Altered
by Professor Oswin
Summary: With two people from the Normal World in the Avatar-verse, the future of the world is uncertain. The battle for good and evil takes a new direction with the Fire Lord’s position in danger and Azula teaming up with someone knowledgable in the history or future this world takes.
1. Troubles

**_Bit of a disclaimer guys. I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender and I don't even own the idea for this story. All credit goes to the creators for the characters and plot but the story idea credit goes to Falkyn's Flight. She completed the story some time ago so go check out the original work. This is just a fanfiction of a fanfiction with an OC thrown in to see where this goes. Some parts may be no different from the source material while others may have a drastic change. It'll depend on what suits my path._**

* * *

I sat at the edge of the tiny pool. My breath was relaxed and I was focusing on the movements of my body as my chest moved up and down with each breath. Everything seemed calm and peaceful on the outside but inside of me was chaos.

Memories and images bombarded me with every breath unwilling to let me rest. The earth shook waking up the cars outside and sending them into panicked screams as they recognized their doom. The people around me were startled at the sudden outburst of the earth. The ground beneath split apart creating a wide chasm that began to devour everything in its path. People, cars, cement, buildings, everything. Heat began to scorch my skin. Blistering heat was everywhere, there was no escape. But now I was falling out of the skyscraper where I witnessed all the chaos. There was nothing I could do as I watched myself enter the dark chasm other than look at the city that was in flames as everything fell. A moment later I hit the water.

A man was standing in front of me in the dark of the void. He looked old, ancient even. Yet he also looked so young somehow. His appearance seemed to shift with every breath he took. Wherever we were there was a lot of wind.

 _You know what you must do._

My eyes opened. I must've felt the need to keep myself upright during meditation since I was grabbing onto the grass tightly. I'd even torn some of it up. That man always showed up in every meditation I had. Ever since I came into this world.

Sweat slid down my face and into my eye causing salty agony. I tried to blink it away but it persisted on existing. Despite the cold environment, my Parka was already moist and uncomfortably drenched in my sweat. It was succeeding in making me freeze however. Since my parka wasn't performing its job properly anymore, I decided to shed it off.

My eyes wandered back to the pond tracing the movement of what was underneath the surface. The movement belonged to the two spirits of the water tribes. That of the Moon and the Ocean. La and her lover Tui. They were the ones who granted me the ability to protect myself.

I walked over to the edge of the oasis and froze the water surrounding me in order to leave.

* * *

 _I'd been struggling to meditate as instructed back then just like right now. During the nightmarish process, I managed to fall into the pond with the incarnation of the spirits. They appeared in their splendour as I did. "I can see what he sees in you. You're just like her." La told me. She was followed by her lover, "He told us to give you some way to protect yourself until we can meet formally. We didn't do this with her because there was no way to come into contact with her before. I give you the gift of water, use it wisely." It was La's turn now, "And I the gift of knowledge to keep you safe."_

* * *

Over the course of the time I was here I was able to train with the powers I was given and learned the basic movesets including Ice formation.

* * *

" _Focus your mind into being free. Flow like the water, and then harden yourself. Steel yourself as though you were to be attacked."_

 _I followed his instruction. I calmed my breath and relaxed my limbs as I moved my arms around freely. Then just as I started to pick up my arms I hardened myself and opened my eyes. Finally. The water in front of me had turned into ice. It only took two weeks of failure for me to get this. But Master Pakku maintained his idea that I was the best student he could have._

 _I looked up at Master Pakku. I'm sure that my eyes were gleaming with pride because he nodded with confidence at my success. I was elated at my ability. "So will we move on to more advanced forms?" I smiled._

" _You are ready," he nodded with a smile._

" _You did it!" his niece who was watching the whole session rushed and gave me a hug._

* * *

I slipped on the ice and took a plunge into the icy waters. The cold was threatening to overtake me as I struggled against the water. Thankfully I took off my parka earlier so I wasn't going to drown thanks to suffocation. My arms flailed in panic for a little bit before beginning to paddle up to the surface just like I was taught. That was the positives about swimming lessons. You might not become a class A Olympic swimmer like Michael Phelps but you did learn the basics for surviving in deadly situations like these. I broke into the surface and began gasping for air. My arms were heavy as I heaved myself back onto the icy platform that I created.

This is what happens when I get distracted, I scolded myself for the stupidity I performed.

My new way of life started months ago. I came to accept that. But by then I already knew what happened and where I was. I also knew that I would never see Sara again. She was gone forever. I doubt I would ever even see the real world again. The Avatar world was my home now. I have to admit that I don't know much about this place. I only ever watched a couple episodes completely and that was only because they were the most repeated ones. I always thought of it as boring. However, I was a huge fan of the sequel. I watched Legend of Korra passionately. So I was going to be travelling blindly for a majority of my time here if I ever decided to follow the avatar in his adventures which I was still unsure of. The only current checkpoint I knew of right now would be when Aang shows up for his waterbending teacher.

The Northern Water Tribe, my home, for the time being, was more of a city. I watched the season 1 finale and it didn't really do justice to how the place really was. While the show presented a small village, it was in actuality a gargantuan place. The main place the show showed us was just the main palace which was constructed to protect and hide the spirit oasis. To its sides were subsections of cities. They reached all the way into the Snow Wilds. It was mostly calm during the summer but the seasonal storm lasted all winter and spring which meant that I've only seen its stormy side.

"Decide to go for a dip after all?" Zartok joked as I came out of the cave. He guarded the spirit oasis during the day so he knew about my regular ventures into meditation. Including the nightmares that were usually there to accompany my troubles.

"Everyone else should be waking up soon. Besides, I'm starving," I reasoned with a smile as I waved goodbye.

Indeed people were waking up. No alarm clocks existed in this world and the North Pole clearly lacked in animal life which made me wonder how all these people knew when the sun was coming out to wake up and start their day. But then again I was also managing to wake up at the same time every morning without any of the things that I used to have to do the job for me. So it really didn't bother me as much.

At this time the sky was a light purple with some faint auroras decorating the dawn sky. The moon was full and alone above. We were both essentially one and the same.

"Come on Aiden, we're going to be late," a girl literally pulled me from my thoughts as she took me with her. I had to sprint in order to keep up, but even then I was mostly being pulled forward by her. She was the only person who still called me by my given name. With the time I spent in the Water Tribe, I was eventually granted an honorary name as well which was the name that everyone used when they called me.

"Slow down, Shinya," my pleas hit deaf ears.

"MY CABBAGES!" someone screamed as Shinya ploughed through a wooden cart with some ice bending. "That is the last time I accept a royal invitation!"

She jumped off an ice bridge and into the river separating the palace from the noble homes and forced me after her. If Master Pakku learned about her using waterbending for anything other than healing he would throw a fit. Speaking of, thanks to him taking me under his tutelage I was able to live in the nobility district, not that there was any difference. Other than it was closer to the training grounds the nobility district didn't really have any perks than any other district that surrounded the Palace. No one really used money here so the nobility was nothing more than a title given to the people close to the Royal Family. Everyone just lived together peacefully and helped each other out in whatever they could. Men would go out and hunt and protect the Tribe from outsiders while the women kept everything peaceful and managed the households.

Shinya and I arrived at the Icy Palace and were allowed inside. The whole building was made of ice. Waterbending architects would be the ones to thank for this glorious work. But it wasn't really used that much. It was just for show really.

I joined the royal family of three and Master Pakku and several other people who I still couldn't seem to remember the names of as I took a seat right next to Shinya.

"Hello Zizaku," the chief greeted me politely.

His daughter seemed to laugh at my entrance. She'd always puzzled me. Sometimes she seemed so serious and void of any emotion and other times she would struggling not to burst into uncontrollable laughter at the smallest of things. I felt a sharp pain in my foot and it took me a second to realize that I had been kicked by Shinya. I'd accidentally let my gaze linger on Yue for too long.

"You jealous?" I sneered playfully under my breath at Shinya.

Everyone was already beginning to eat and as a result were unaware of my silent conversation with Shinya.

"Of who? Little miss perfect?" her nose turned up in distaste away from the Princess. "Never. And a careful word of advice. Don't play with fire. You're not a firebender after all," she kicked one more time, this time a bit harder.

"You've been meditating every morning for the past 2 months. Any progress in that?" Master Pakku suddenly asked.

"Uh, no. I mean yes. Gah, uh, actually no," I answered nervously. The Northern Water Tribe were very spiritual and meditation helped them in that a lot so someone not knowing how or not being able to meditate was a disgrace in the culture. And I really didn't want to be labelled that.

"Don't worry, Aiden. There have been some students who aren't able to grasp meditation within a year of lessons. Let alone 2 months of practice," Shinya offered.

"Do not encourage him, my niece," Pakku scolded. He let out a huff and went quiet.

"What she says is true," Yue continued, "It took me 2 years to be able to fully meditate," the princess smiled.

"No one asked you," Shinya glared as she muttered it out of her earshot. I chuckled slightly.

"How about your Academic studies?" Pakku inquired with steely eyes.

I gulped. I'd never been really good at the academics. I was all right enough to get a job but the academics the water tribe taught were very difficult. At least for me. I cleared my throat and took out a piece of paper. I froze as I realized it was a bit wet from the dive I took in the morning. I was already making a fool of myself without even starting. I knew because Master Pakku was already frowning.

"As the sun sets west, We are up for the rest, And enjoy the sun." I looked up at them and pocketed the paper waiting for a reaction from them. Sweat slid from my forehead as I did.

I tensed as Shinya slightly touched my hand.

"One syllable short but respectable." Pakku's expression remained hard. I really wasn't an expert at making him proud in anything other than my waterbending. Then again, he might only be proud to teach me the art because I was given the gift directly by the spirits while I was on their land.

"Come on, Pakku. That was great. Especially for a learner like him," the chief offered me a short clap accompanied by half the people sitting around the table. Even the chief knew how difficult it was to please the Master Bender.

After breakfast was over it was time to start my training with Master Pakku. We always began with a series of small drills. They consisted of passing water between us in a little dance. Shaping the water as we connected our emotions with it. And converting it back and forth between its two states. We were done now and I was ready.

"I am too old to demonstrate this new technique I am about to teach you. Very few people can ever learn it so do not be disappointed if you can't understand what I'm going to teach you," this made me nervous. I wanted to please my master, but how was I going to be able to do that when he couldn't show me properly how to do something new or when many others haven't been able to get it?

"I call it the sea serpent." He entered his stance and I copied him. Our hands were facing each other as our arms contorted into something a snake would do when striking its prey. "The key to this form is to be light on your feet, and strike hard."

A misshapen stream of water rose from one of the surrounding pools and smashed into an ice boulder nearby as Pakku ran toward it.

"Come on Aiden! You can do this!" Shinya encouraged me from where she was sitting on the stairs.

"So how is it supposed to look like?" I asked.

Master Pakku closed his eyes, "It is supposed to take the form of a Sea Serpent and follow your command of where to strike. It is a beginner's move for the more complex form, the Water Dragon."

Yikes. So this was just a beginner's form. A complex move for a beginner.

I planted my feet firmly on the ground and summoned two streams of water around me. With a deep breath, I began running trying my best to keep myself light. The streams of water began to whirl around me and converged into one surrounding me completely. That's where all the fun began. The water was solid against my feet as it picked me up into the air. It was fast. Master Pakku formed Icebergs and started launching them high into the air. I directed my waterbending at each of them and slammed them into snow particles. But I wasn't able to keep the Sea Serpent together too long and ended up crashing down on the floor in a wet heap.

"That was wonderful!" Master Pakku praised. "You've finally stopped fighting like a firebender."

According to him, this was the first time any student was able to even shape the water. Most students would just keep their water when bending as a simple cylinder that would snake around. And mine had as much detail as the real Sea Serpent despite me not knowing how it looked like. I'm pretty sure that there was an episode about one but I forgot about it.

The rest of the day was spent training me how to control it and how to make it last longer. I think I got the hang of it by the end of the day. Exhaustion was already washing up on me by the time training was over and the moon crept up. Master Pakku had decided that it was enough training for today and decided to give me something.

"This is packed ice chipped from the spirit oasis. Hard to melt, impossible to bend. It's what our people use to craft betrothal necklaces." I wasn't sure where this was going and I voiced my confusion to him. "I know how you look at my niece. You remind me of myself when I was young. Normally a girl like her would have already had her marriage arranged a year earlier. But because I'm her only guardian, and she's my only living family, I've been picky about whom I want her to spend the rest of her life with. But I also see how she looks at you. She likes you very much. And I would be honoured to have a great student of mine also be my son in law."

I was speechless.

"I don't know what to say," I confessed.

"Just make her happy," Master Pakku said and left.

The packed ice seemed to be plain and tasteless. And I've never seen how a betrothal necklace is crafted. Maybe the symbols weren't mandatory? But if I didn't carve them I would also be straying from the norm in a culture that valued tradition. I was very conflicted. The moon was up high by the time I had decided on what to carve and was nearly finished with it when I remembered that I had agreed to meet Shinya at the bridge by this time. She was so gonna kill me but this offering would surely more than make up for it. The ice knife I was using for the carving turned back into water as I got up and started running.

"You're late," Shinya smirked as she hopped down from the railing. She wasn't wearing her parka. I'd never seen her without it so she looked almost naked without it. Instead, she possessed a thin fabric that I've seen Katara wear later in the series but it was different. It barely had any sleeves at all and even then the shoulder bits were cut off, the skirt part stretched further down to the knees and she was wearing long fingerless pale blue gloves. Water Tribe Culture usually frowned upon tight clothing in public, but at least no one was around to see her.

I nervously put my hand in my pocket where the betrothal necklace was and touched it. I've never been good with girls. It's something that Sara always made fun of at my expense. Communication isn't something I'm good at but put me in anything that requires a task to be fulfilled and I'll do everything in my power to complete it. So I was going to treat this as such.

"Your uncle held me back. He wanted me to do something for y-him," I partially confessed.

"Ready to have some fun?" she ignored my hesitance at her touch. I was taller than her by a few inches. I was 5'9" so I'd say she was around 5'6" which should be taller than average. Every time we stood close to each other like right now I had the pleasure to take in her every detail. She had a soft face, pointed chin, brown eyes that seemed to be of an oval shape. Her nose was small but pudgy and her hair matched her eyes though at times it seemed to turn black. I was lost in her and didn't really register the kiss as it happened.

"Shinya, I know that I'm an outsider to the tribe. I've only been here for 3 months. But I feel like there's a connection between us. I'm not sure if you feel the same way but your uncle thinks you do."

"Uh?" I guess Shinya was still in a daze from the kiss we shared.

I got down to my knees, this was the first time I ever did that for anyone. I've never knelt. Not for forgiveness, not for respect, not for pleading let alone for a god I didn't believe in. But for her. For the woman in front of me, I was ready to do anything. "Will you join me in a shared life?"

Shinya snapped out of her daze as I pulled out the betrothal necklace. Her eyes widened and her pupils sharpened. "Did my uncle set you up to this? Is he really going to arrange a marriage for me as if I were just another Tribal girl?!"

At this time when it dawned on me what was happening, I should've been heartbroken. Just like any other guy who would face rejection. But that wasn't going through my mind. In my head, I was being compared to the misogynistic culture that was temporarily governing the people from here. She was making me out to be the bad guy and I didn't like that.

"Do you really think of me like that." I really didn't say it as a question. It was more of a 'How dare you. I'm done with this bullshit' sort of thing. No emotion was being expressed on my empty face and it brought out some worry in Shinya.

"I—I don't know?" She hugged herself and gazed at the water below.

I couldn't take any of this bullshit. I left her to herself and made my way to my home.


	2. Stranger

Sorry about this being a bit too long. I just don't want to cut any more of this in order to avoid confusion.

* * *

I spent the following week avoiding Shinya. She still showed up at training to cheer me on but I just focused on myself. After finishing with training I would head straight to my house without letting her get close to me. Master Pakku, of course, noticed all of this but I guess he decided to remain neutral within our affairs because he wasn't doing anything to understand the situation.

"Aiden! I know you're in there. Open up, please. We need to talk about what happened." I ignored her. Using some waterbending I carved out a hole in the floor and slipped in and kept making it bigger. I was soon at least 5 feet under ice in a small room where I couldn't hear Shinya's cries.

You can call me petty or anything you want but she really hurt me. And I didn't want to see her right now because of that. I dozed off and slipped into the world of dreams.

* * *

I was back in the real world. _I cut the engine to my car and climbed out. I was lucky enough to secure a parking space close to the building, I just didn't want to walk 2 blocks to work every day._

" _Coffee, and we start our day. No doughnuts though. The boss ate them all," Sara chuckled as I arrived at my desk._

" _You know that I can't function without my doughnuts," I laughed. This was how we mostly spent our days when we weren't busy with a swamp of documents in front of us. We've known each other since the 3rd grade. We were there whenever one of us entered a relationship and when we broke up. Best Friends._

" _Maria broke up with Nate again," she stated out of the blue. Maria and Nate were like Selena and Justin. They constantly broke up in the aftermaths of huge fights and then kissed and made up around a few weeks later. So surely they would be back together by the end of the month and I told Sara that._

" _I know. They do this a lot. But I find it kind of cute. They're loyal to each other. They always forgive."_

" _But isn't it toxic? Surely these many breakups should be a sign."_

" _Well it would be_ _ **outstanding**_ _if couples never fought, but that's not how relationships work. If arguments didn't happen, all the dissatisfaction would slowly build up and make things ugly." Sara did have a point._

" _For internships, this is the best possible job we could get," I confessed. "We just get to sit around all day while they're inside discussing whatever it is old coots talk about sales." She laughed._

* * *

It was early morning again when I woke up. I followed the same routine I always had every morning which included meditation. This time was different since I was finally able to do it without the nightmares that plagued me. Must've had something to do with the dream I had. I hurried to the mess hall and came in to find that not many people had come in yet. Only Pakku, the chieftain and several other important tribesmen were present. "Has anyone seen Shinya?" I asked.

"My niece requested to accompany the scouts this time this morning. I'm not sure why if no one ever gets into trouble out there." Pakku's shrug was the only sign of emotion.

"You are more than welcome to join us for breakfast while she comes back," the chief offered kindly. His wife came in late explaining that the princess wanted to relax for a while canoeing. But our little gathering didn't last long. A messenger burst in out of breath announcing the Avatar's arrival and in turn the end of my peaceful life.

* * *

 _Sokka_

I groaned loudly making sure that Aang, Pala, and my sister could hear me for the millionth time. Travelling for 2 days straight was boring and eating nothing but nuts and dried fruits was torture. I needed some real meat and Momo's chitter was starting to make me reconsider my decision to keep him as a pet. I wonder what flying lemur tastes like.

"Will you shut up with all the groaning?" Pala demanded, "Some people are trying to sleep!"

"Fine!" For a few minutes, everything was silent. Then Appa's giant paws began sloshing the water as we dropped a lot closer to it forcing me to break the silence again. "Can't this thing go any higher?"

"Sokka I swear I will…" Aang interrupted Pala with his own sharp comment. "We've been flying for 3 days straight!" 2 days I muttered softly, " So how about we all climb onto your back and you fly us straight to the North Pole?!"

"Gladly!" I retorted. "Climb on everyone! Let's take the Sokka Express! Destination: Northern Water Tribe!" I blinked and felt a sudden weight on my back. Turns out it was Momo who listened to me innocently. He protested as I shook him off.

It was honestly a long and monotonous wait to get to the water Tribe. By the time we were found, Pala was fast asleep and snoring, however much she denied the action.

Appa growled nervously as the growing ice spikes began to grow even faster. All of his jarring movements woke up Pala immediately. I looked at her for reassurance on what was going on but got none as she looked around in shock.

"Hold on!" Aang yelled as Appa tried to dodge another one that grew in front of him suddenly. He came to a stop as I was thrown into the water. I barely broke the surface when I noticed Appa's huge shadow before he crashed down. I sunk back underneath before I felt myself be pulled out by Katara's waterbending.

"Sokka, they're waterbenders. We finally found the Northern Water Tribe!" she exclaimed with excitement.

"Oh thank god," Pala collapsed before I was set on the saddle again. I peeked my head over the saddle to gather my bearings on what was going on. To my excitement, there were several waterbenders surrounding us!

"Welcome Avatar, what brings you to the North?" One of them asked. I noticed that there was only one girl out of the 14 people surrounding us. I shrugged the observation off. The women must've been busy doing something else.

"Hi! I'm Sokka, son of Hakota, chieftain of the southern water tribe. These are my sisters, Katara daughter of Kya wife of Hakota and Palartok daughter of..." I trailed off, turning to Pala to ask for her mother's name. To my surprise she was gripping her bow tightly, knuckles white as she stared at me. I shrugged it off and turned back to the man. My father had taught me what was expected if I ever came across other water benders, not from our tribe. Katara leaned over and whispered into her ear. Pala stopped and gave Katara a strange look before replying.

"Coral, my mom's name is Coral." I looked at her in surprise. While not a strictly water tribe name Coral was fairly popular for those who wanted something different. Of course, it appeared among the earth kingdom as well, especially near the ocean.

I know that they didn't ask me the question nor asked us to introduce ourselves but it was going pretty awesome. Besides, I was so excited to finally be with the men of my people.

"Welcome brother and sisters," the man stated warmly, "my name is captain Anik and this is my fleet. If you would like we will escort you to our tribe."

"That would be appreciated," Katara added grinning at me, "We'd probably get lost otherwise." I huffed, indignant at the suggestion. I wasn't that bad with directions. Regardless I turned to look proudly at Katara and Pala.

We followed Anik with Appa swimming so as to not outpace the canoes. Katara was looking around, beaming in excitement and chatting with Aang. Pala, on the other hand, walked over to me and sat down.

"You didn't have to do that." She stated as she began to polish her bow, checking to make sure it was supple and not going to become hard and crack from the cold.

"Do what?" I asked in confusion. What was she talking about?

"Introduce me like I was your sister." She explained with a roll of her eyes.

"Technically, you are. You're water tribe, that makes you my sister."

"I was adopted into the water tribe Sokka, not born into it." She protested. I was about to retort that it didn't matter when her eyes widened. The awe on her face caused me to turn as well. In front of us was the Northern Water Tribe.

Jutting straight up from the water was a huge wall of ice, polished with the smooth perfection that only master waterbenders could create. Towers and large buildings rose up, taller than the walls, shining. Everything was made of ice or snow. I watched in fascination as several waterbenders broke off a section of the wall, lowering it below the water's surface so we might pass through. It was amazing, little rainbows glinted off the perfect surface as we headed under the bridge.

I could tell that Aang, Pala and Katara were just as awestruck as I was. It was impossible not to be. This place was the size of Omashu but made completely of ice. It occurred to me that the Southern water tribe might have looked like this at one time, before the war, before we lost our benders. For the first time in my life, I mourned the loss that our home had suffered.

As Appa swam along we passed a canoe. My eyes were instantly caught by the girl sitting in them. Her hair was a silvery white, a colour associated with the elderly but she couldn't have been older than me. Her skin was pretty and coloured a pale brown. She turned and smiled at me with the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen. She was beautiful. My heart began beating an unnatural rhythm as I ran to Appa's tail so as to keep looking at her.

"...beautiful." I heard Katara state.

"Yeah," I replied dreamily, "She is."

* * *

 _Aiden_

I scrambled through the crowd that was cheering the Avatar's arrival as he made his way through our canals, I didn't care about him right now. I finally reached her as she was coming up from the boats and I snatched her away from the public eye. "I'm sorry about. About everything. When I get mad I tend to blow up and lash out at everyone. It's usually my greatest strength for when I fight, but for situations like these, it's just a liability. I just don't want to lose you, I've already lost my family and friends. I don't want that to happen to you too."

"You don't have anything to apologize for," she tried to get me to calm down. I looked at her in confusion. I'm the one who treated her like trash, "What?"

"I was the one who overreacted. And I didn't get a chance to take back my panic. It's just that I've lived here my whole life, and I know what my culture is like and I don't like it. I understand why people have left or escaped. I thought you only wanted to marry me because my uncle asked you to propose to me. But then that night I spoke with him and he explained everything. I feel like a jerk."

"I think we're both jerks," I made her laugh with that. "But I would never have been accepted into the tribe without you. Let alone have these awesome abilities," I smirked as I pulled up some water I created out of the snow. I hardened it into ice and shaped it into a bracelet with snowflake ice beads.

* * *

 _Months Ago_

I gasped as a splash of ice-cold water woke me up. This wasn't the first time I've woken up to the little surprise. It wasn't the only way it's happened either. These Water Tribe members were really harsh to outsiders. Considering we're in the middle of a hundred year war, it really wasn't a surprise.

"Get up you Flamer," my guard said in disgust. I'm not sure if Pakku really was a guard or if he was just one of the most paranoid members here to actually guard a normal guy who just so happened to look like Fire Nation.

"I've told you already. I'm not Fire Nation," I spit as I choke down the air to keep myself warm.

Pakku just grunted in response as he slid through a bowl of soup. I counted myself lucky to actually love seafood since it seemed that it was the main diet for these people. Snail-Lobster soup for breakfast, Seaweed wrapped Bison-Koi for lunch and Shrimp-Shrew gruel for dinner. Were it not for the gruel and the Icy cell I was making my home in I would never have guessed that I was a prisoner here.

I was half finished with my food when his niece came by. I learned that her name was Shinya by the second visit. She was adventurous, pretty, and intelligent. She also happened to be 2 years younger than me at 17.

"Sorry about how they treat you. I suppose that decades of frightening tales of the _'oh so dangerous and deadly Fire Nation'_ does that to the elders," she chuckled.

"Good morning to you too." I liked her enthusiasm but sometimes it made things awkward. Most obviously because I was behind bars and knew next to nothing about the Northern Water Tribe other than their one-off appearance in ATLA and several mentions from Unalaq in Legend of Korra.

"So how's it going with the escape plan?" she asked as I took my cell phone and MultiKnife out of my pocket. For some reason no one ever thought to check what I was carrying in my _'strange'_ attire when I was rescued from drowning outside the walls.

"Slow and steady wins the race," I quoted the fable she probably never heard of. I quickly continued to carve out the piece of the roof where the Icy bars connected. "Remind me again why you want to leave with me?"

"That's for me to know and for you to not care about. But let's just say that this whole culture we have doesn't really agree with me." She narrowed her eyes at the bars that were holding me inside. "If I knew how to bend ice like the other warriors, I would have had you out of there since day one." It wasn't the first time she pointed that out. I guess that reason she was so 'secretive' about was actually the whole cultural thing against women learning to waterbend that was so prominent in the Siege of the North episodes.

"It isn't all that bad to be here. The food is good and from what I see, everyone gets along fine. Out there in the other nations things aren't all this pretty. Especially with the war going on. There are famines, poverty, crime and a lot of other shit."

"You wouldn't understand," she muttered.

A few days later was when I was finally able to get out of my little prison. A wild Polar-Boar managed to get past the guards at one of the walls and was wreaking havoc all over the inner kingdom.

I was sitting having my lunch when the sound of ice shattering startled me. Shinya's cry alarmed me. Over the past 2 weeks, I'd grown fond of her. And her pain forced me off my feet. I still wasn't done carving through the packed ice but I didn't care. I felt the need to protect her at any cost. I slammed myself against the ice a few times before it finally gave way.

I was able to scramble my way to Shinya. The boar was big. My entire height and his horns were as long as my arms and looked very menacing. Shinya was cornered underneath one of the houses looking very scared as the boar was trying to get to her.

"Hey! Tall, brown and furry!" I threw a snowball at it.

The boar turned and faced me. I had his attention now. I ran away as fast as I could leading the wild animal in a chase giving the soldiers enough time to regroup and find a way to attack again. But that wasn't the only thing I was planning on doing. I lead it all the way to the castle where there were more guards waiting for me. Unfortunately, I didn't escape unscathed. Before the guards managed to stop and kill the beast, I was stupid enough to think that I was safe and stopped. That's where the Boar took advantage and barreled through guards, including me. An entire day was enough to heal the wounds and calm the bruises.

"Thank you for saving my niece. You put yourself at risk for someone that you don't even know"—I bit back the fact he didn't know about our little moonlighting with each other planning an escape— "Despite how terrible we, I, treated you." He bowed his head in respect. "I will give you back your freedom. The life of my niece is something I can never repay, but it would be an honour to teach you our ways and customs if your claims of not having a home are true."

"I humbly accept." I glanced at Shinya who was behind her uncle. She gave me a hurt look of betrayal before leaving.

* * *

"I've been wearing your necklace for a while, but I still don't know if you still want to marry me." I watched as she moved the collar of her Parka out of the way to show me the betrothal necklace I made. I hadn't realized that I actually lost it. This past week was just too chaotic for me to notice.

"Of course I still want to." An idea popped into my head. "Why don't we ask your uncle to announce it during the feast at the same time as Yue's?"

* * *

 _Maddi_

I tried my best to vaguely warn the others about the problems they were going to face here, but I'm not sure if I made my warnings as clear as I could without causing any damage to the timeline. I was still having trouble deciding whether or not to tell them complete things about what was going to happen to them. I could screw everything up with just a simple word. And I didn't want to be the one responsible for the deaths of people who should've lived or cause the Fire Lord to be the victor.

The Chieftain's messengers came to bring us to the feast after I finished reading a few more entries of the soldier's diary. Turns out that he met Iroh back when he was a prince. It was hard to believe that this scroll contained information about his early life. This really was worth those copper pieces.

Everything was going by just like in the episode, or so I thought. Sokka's surprise was removed when Yue was announced as a princess. I corrected Katara when she made fun of Sokka's claim of prince-hood. He was since Hakkota was his father and he was the chief. But then everything took a turn with the announcement of Yue's marriage. That was supposed to happen. Had I already changed things by warning my friends vaguely? Did that subtly influence their decisions? Or was my presence just enough to change all this.

"And I would like to announce my niece's engagement as well–" wait, Pakku has a niece? Was that in the tv show?– "Today is a glorious day for our tribe! The spirits have blessed us with the Avatar's presence and 2 betrothals." Pakku's announcement was the nail in the coffin. Something was very wrong. None of this should be taking place at all. "And now the entertainment." I couldn't pay proper attention to the spectacle that I was sure would look even better in person than it had on the small screen. A quick glance at Sokka showed the hurt and betrayal in his eyes as Yue went quiet right next to him.

The 3 waterbenders continued doing their thing but a sudden appearance of another man perked my attention. Even the dance was different. He took control of the 3 spouts of water and turned it into one which surrounded him. Features began to etch themselves into the surface of the water as it flowed around us following the movements of the man whose features were distorted in the liquid. Soon a Sea Serpent was flying through the air. The entire series of Avatar never showed any type of waterbending on this level. And as the Serpent shed the front of its head to make room for more tricks I could see that the man wasn't in any episode either. He didn't even look like Water Tribe. He almost looked Fire Nation but I knew what he really was.

I snuck out of the place before the event concluded and went over to my tent. I picked up my Fans and made my way back to the feast and hid nearby until it was over. I stayed hidden as everyone left. The man was the last to leave and was accompanied by Pakku's niece. The same water tribe girl that was out there with all the waterbenders. She must be a healer. They kissed each other and separated to go in different directions.

While sneaking behind the man I accidentally slipped on the snow and gave myself away with a grunt. I was able to pick myself up and get into my fighting stance before he turned to face me. "I know who you are," I glared.

Water slipped into his hands and froze into an ice sword and dagger. Great, he can fight.

"I don't want to fight. I know that you aren't from here either. Let's talk," the ice weapons in his hands melted.

Warily I tucked my fans into the belt that held my skirt together. I was keeping my eyes on every escape route possible just in case this went sour. A person from my world was too unpredictable and I didn't like it. I've grown accustomed to knowing what every person was thinking and what they were going to do.

"Where are you from?" The snow in between us rose to create a makeshift table accompanied by makeshift ice seats. I slowly lowered myself down to one of them and he did the same.

"San Francisco. Lovely place. Terrible earthquakes," he said calmly. I didn't like him. I couldn't trust him. But I also couldn't have him somewhere I couldn't keep an eye on him. He could cause severe trouble.

"Is that how you came? Cause I did too. Canada, earthquake, 2014."

"2014? Canada? That wasn't an earthquake. That was a terrorist attack and that happened 5 years ago. Then America was attacked by the same people. When I arrived I thought it was because I was dead and this would be my purgatory. But since you're here that means this is real. And I left my world in September. It should be November by now. And.."

A terrorist attack. That meant my family was surely dead. No point in fantasising my return with them anymore. That was impossible with the new information I had now. I didn't stay around to listen to the man rant anymore. I went back to my tent and laid down ignoring the questions of my friends. I cried myself to sleep that night. I felt Katara try and comfort me before I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

I woke the next morning more tired than I was when I fell asleep. The sun was already past the midpoint so I guess Aang, Katara, and Sokka were already doing their own things. The events from last night were too much for me and made me exhausted beyond what I've felt. I just hope that Katara wasn't having as much trouble with convincing Pakku to teach her. Though with this new visitor I really don't know how much Pakku had changed. Hopefully, the guy mellowed him out. But I couldn't tell if he knew anything about the Avatar world either. There were too many what ifs. But he couldn't be important right now to me. I had more pressing matters to deal with. Like whether or not to save Yue. Her death might have an impact on everyone which would contribute to the defeat of the Firelord. And if I stop that from happening who knows what could happen. Aside from yesterday's revelation of Yue's betrothal, I knew that Sokka would run straight for Yue the moment he was free. The memory of my failure at keeping Sukki safe back on Kyoshi island was ingrained in my head. The sight of her broken leg was burned in my eyes. It was all because I had taken action in changing things. Maybe this was a decision I could share with the man. He was from the real world. He had as much a responsibility as I had to keep this world safe right? But then again, I couldn't live in fear for the rest of my life. Or the year.

I got myself ready and grabbed my fans for some practice outside when I ran into Katara as she was entering the tent. "Katara! What are you doing here? I thought you would go with Aang to practice waterbending."

"I was coming to wake you, Pala." she blinked as she looked at my gear. "Aang and Zizaku are trying to convince Pakku to teach me waterbending. Thanks for the warning on their views. I think if I wasn't mentally prepared I would've ended up screwing things up for Aang."

"Zizaku?" I hadn't heard that name before.

"He's Master Pakku's best student. He's the guy who made the sea serpent yesterday."

Oh.

"So where are you heading?" she asked. I just quickly told her my plan for keeping my training routine. "I gotta go anyway. For now, I'll stick with learning how to heal. There's a class going on right now. Bye."

I decided to practice my archery first. I have the basics down with the weapon but I still wasn't as efficient with them as I was with the fans. And while I didn't really need them for battle right now I knew that I'd be needing them here soon. And my accuracy had to be perfect. Fire Nation soldiers wear armour and there really wasn't any way to penetrate them with arrows other than the slits in their masks and the weak points in the joints.

The whole day was spent working on aim and technique. I'm not sure how many times I pulled back the string to the bow but it was enough to make my skin raw. Yet I still pulled the string back very weakly. Practice practice. That's all I did. The wall I was using for practice was pocketed by many holes and some parts had crumbled off hours ago. A loud thunk resonated from the wall as I landed my third bullseye in a row.

"You're pretty good," I jumped in surprise causing my arrow to whizz over the wall. Great, I lost an arrow. Turning I looked to see a girl a few good years younger than me sitting on a pile of snow with her legs crossed as she watched me.

"Thanks," I replied lightly retrieving the other arrows and putting them in my quiver. "Want me to teach you?" I asked kindly.

"Oh, I don't need to learn. It must be interesting to travel the world. Especially when it's so much different than your own. Isn't it?" My arrow missed again as I spun and stared at the girl who was now standing behind me, an innocent expression was plastered on her face.

"How do you know? Who are you?" I snapped not caring if I made her cry with my sudden outburst. I raised my bow and notched an arrow at her.

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes. "Do you really think you can hit me with that? Even if you let go of the arrow it won't do anything to me. See?" she walked right into the point and to my surprise, it just created a ripple in her chest that seemed to move like water. I blinked and reluctantly lowered my weapon.

"You're another spirit. Of course." She cackled at my realization as if I had just said the funniest joke in the world.

"What did you think I was? Do I even look water tribe to you?" I paused and this time took a better look at her. While she was wearing the same outfit water tribe people usually wore, and her hair was dark, that was where the similarities ended. Her skin was nearly a translucent white and glowing in a silvery light, and her eyes, they were made of pure silver with no whites or sign of an iris. Despite the fact that she looked Aang's age, you could feel all the aeons she's lived.

"My name is Nuuttuittuq, I am the Northern Star." I sighed and dropped down on a pile of snow.

"So what do you want from me?" I asked with a glare, not bothering to say her name. I was tired of spirits interfering with me. Besides her name was impossible to pronounce.

"I wished to check up on you and let you know that you are changing this world," I grunted. I already was aware the world was changing. I had seen small changes quite often.

"I'm not the only one it seems either," I said remembering Zizaku.

"What do you mean?" she asked. So the spirits still don't know about the second stranger in their lands? That was interesting. Maybe I should keep that information to myself. No point in having them going after him either.

"Nothing. Just an observation about you being here." I lied. "So why do you want to check up on me? We've obviously never met." I felt a small tug in my stomach as I said that.

"You don't remember, do you? Well, I do. You weren't conscious so I'll give you a pass. And you were in the spirit world for quite some time." She smiled warmly, "And you have me to thank for the fact you speak the common tongue at all." I froze and turned to her in shock.

"You mean that I'm not actually speaking English right now? And you gave me the ability to speak at all with everyone? Why? Do you know why I'm here?" I demanded, my heart was beating erratically. Regardless of what happened in the real world, someone had to have saved me and pull me in here.

"I saved your life, I changed your direction in the spirit world, I changed your native tongue so you could understand what was said to you and I was the one who made sure you were found by Sokka before you died from exposure. But I did not take you from your world. I did not create the disaster that brought you here and I do not know who did or even if it was on purpose at all." I sighed.

"I'll be seeing you soon Maddison, and good luck." She paused a second before she had to leave.

"If you cannot pronounce my name, then call me something else. A nickname perhaps." She smiled and then vanished into thin air.

I turned back to my bow and arrows, left abandoned on the snow. I retrieved them and for a moment or two just stared off into space. Finally giving up practice as a lost cause I put my weapon away and walked home.


	3. The Siege Part 1

_Maddi/Pala_

I spent the next 3 weeks sparring with Aiden or Zizaku as everyone called him. I've tried to convince him to join me and the group he dubbed the Gaang but he insisted on staying to live here. He explained that he was only training with me because he wanted to keep his new home safe.

"What do you tell people when they ask you where you come from?" I asked him.

"The fire nation. I look like them. But I was blessed to be a waterbender by La and Tui." He already explained how he met the two spirits and why he was a bender whereas I wasn't. It made sense that the people of the tribe would come to trust him even if he was from the fire nation if he could waterbend.

"How about you?" He launched himself into the air with a burst of water as I came so close to striking him in the chest.

"People think I'm from the Earth Kingdom. I don't correct them. But I do say I was adopted into the Southern water tribe."

"So why do you keep introducing yourself with those two names of yours?" I sliced a spout of water and blocked an ice flechette. I was getting better at blocking water bending. Though it wouldn't be valuable in the future, it was helpful for learning how to effectively block bending.

"I do it because the southern water tribe saved me and gave me a name. It's to honour them for what they did for me," I explained. I dodged another attack and moved in again for another assault. I managed to hit him this time in the leg with my fan folded before he threw me off with a wave.

"If it's because of that," he strained. "Why do you also give your real name?"

"I don't know, why did you give yours to Shinya and myself, Aiden?" I shot back.

"I'm marrying Shinya soon. And you're from the real world," He reasoned.

I really haven't thought about why I still told people my name was Maddi. Only my friends really called me that and sometimes they alternated to Pala. Everyone else we met preferred Pala too. Guess Maddi was too foreign for them. "I guess it's because I don't want to forget who I am. Or where I came from." I was caught off guard as the water swept me off my feet.

"What is the meaning of this?" Great, just what I needed. A visit from Master Pakku. While he finally let Katara learn waterbending, she was the only exception. He still didn't want women to learn how to waterbend or fight. Though he would surely change his mind when the Fire Navy comes to attack.

"The meaning is that we are training," I glared. I wasn't a part of his tribe so his rules couldn't apply to me nor could he order me around like a servant.

"Zizaku. You know very well our culture and…"

"And your culture and customs only say girls can't learn to bend. It says nothing about fighting. And Guess what? I'm not a bender. I'm a Kyoshi warrior. And my culture basically says that men are useless and stupid. But I'm not throwing it on your face. Not until right now at least." I stood up and stood my ground.

"Master Pakku, I will do as you ask but keep in mind she has a point." Aiden got down on a knee. I scoffed at them and left before they said anything. Aiden will tell me what happened later. I had some other Kyoshi forms to practice by myself anyway.

I was near my hidden training spot when I heard Nut call me. "Maddison. Stop." I froze and turned. She was behind me in the form she introduced herself to me but she looked slightly older.

"What do you want? Cause in case you hadn't noticed I kind of have things to do." I barked. NUt sighed at my attitude.

"If you can, save Yue." I raised an eyebrow. I'd been trying to put the decision for that off for as long as I could so why bring that up right now?

"I was planning to," I replied honestly. Several water tribe members rushed past in front of me wielding spears.

"Good. Please do." Nut stated with a firm nod. She disappeared and left black snow in her place. I blinked. She hadn't left the black snow. It was falling everywhere. Now I realized why the Water Tribe warriors were rushing. The fire nation was here. Today was the siege on the North.

* * *

 _Aiden/Zizaku_

"We need all the help we can get. The Fire Navy is big. And any general that would dare attack the Northern Water Tribe won't just bring a platoon. They'll bring in a brigade to perform an invasion. This to them will be two birds with one stone. The capture of the Avatar and the downfall of the longest standing Nation," I tried my best to reason with Master Pakku. While he was a good man, he was unreasonable and stubborn when it came to his traditional views.

"Fine. Your little friend can help us defend our home," He relented.

* * *

 _Maddi_

The inside of the meeting hall was full of people, all looking worried or scared. I actually didn't know where my friends would be so I spent a few minutes scanning the room and wandering before finally finding them at the middle left pillar. I joined them and waited for the few thousand people of the Northern Water Tribe to calm down and cease their conversations to allow the Chief to speak. Chief Arnook came to stand on the dais and raised his hands. He addressed his people with an air of command and power that caused me to envy him. He was a natural born leader. Even I felt compelled to listen to him.

"The day we have feared for so long has arrived. The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family here before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from our tribe," I looked around. There were hundreds of men and women all sharing the same faces. Many of those would never be seen again here. At least that's what the chief was saying. The cartoon never mentioned that anyone died and it was a short battle. So I was doubting the Chief's words.

"but they will never vanish from our hearts. Now, as we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits. Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us!" The chief paused, allowing the call to sink into the air then continued.

"I'm going to need volunteers for a dangerous mission."

"Count me in!" Sokka called, shooting to his feet. I grimaced, I knew Sokka wasn't going to actually go on the mission but it didn't ease how I felt about him volunteering. There was the chance he would somehow remain.

It was then that I noticed I was getting odd looks. It confused me for a while. It then occurred to me that I had my weapons on my person. This was a culture that wouldn't let women waterbenders fight, why would they let non-benders fight? Especially a female non-bender. The more time I spent here the more I found myself hating the northern water tribe.

As soon as the meeting was over I booked it out of there as fast as I could run. The last thing I needed was having someone tell me what I could and couldn't do. And being without my weapons would make me feel paranoid. They were the only sense of safety I had here. Of course, that also meant that I was forced to leave my friends and I wouldn't be able to join them in battle. But they would manage without me. Besides, I already set a plan in motion to save the moon spirit. If I couldn't get there in time. The only reason Katara could join the battle was that Master Pakku made up the lie that she was blessed by the spirits in order to allow everyone peace of mind at the sight of her training in waterbending. It made me envy her relationship with Pakku. But I wasn't going to show my face to him after today. I sighed, I would have to lay low until the fight began. So be it, I was ready and I was going to help, rules or no rules.

* * *

Aiden/Zizaku

"Yue will be one of the best girls I'll ever get to court! Not only is she weak minded and submissive and knows where she belongs, unlike that girl Shinya, but the points it'll give me. They're just. Just woah. I mean she's the fucking princess!" I didn't really care about anything he just said. Hahn had always been a prideful misogynistic jerk. Unfortunately, his personality was common among the tribe. But I could tell that Sokka was inches away from punching the guy so I tried to calm him down.

"I thought you both of all people would understand." Against my better judgement, I asked what he meant. "Well you're Fire Nation, and he looks smart. Isn't that why he has his sister all over the Avatar?" I could feel Sokka tense. "This is political. Why else would he also travel with that Earth Kingdom Whore?" I don't remember exactly what happened next except that I lost it. Hahn was now with his head trapped underneath some ice locking him on the table with blood soaking everything.

"That's enough Zizaku." The chief's voice boomed. I bowed and melted the ice holding Hahn.

"Fucking Coal Head." Hahn held his bloody nose and glared at me before leaving followed by his friends. Some of the other soldiers that hated the guy snickered. The racist name didn't really bother me. I knew who I was and I faced a barrage of those when I first arrived.

"Come with me. You're both off the mission." This was interesting. The Chief never sacrifices resources or manpower at all. "But I didn't do anything it was all…" I elbowed Sokka in the ribs preventing him from going further.

"I need you both to protect my daughter. I know my request is selfish but you must understand the situation we are in," the chief said a while later.

"I would be…"

"Why us?" my interruption earned me a dirty look from Sokka.

"I chose both of you because you, Zizaku, are the best waterbender I've met. You even exceed Master Pakku himself. And Sokka, I've seen your loyalty. It is fierce. I know I can entrust Yue's life with you both."

"Like I was saying," Sokka glared at me. "We would be honoured to complete that task for you. And I am sure you can trust us."

"I'm sorry chief, but you have to understand that I also have someone I care about. And if she were to find herself in danger, I wouldn't hesitate to drop whatever I am doing to help her," I bowed my head in shame. I couldn't give my word on this. My word was basically the only thing I had in this world that I could trust was true.

"I understand, boy. But all I need is you to promise me that you will do your best." I nodded at his request. "Good. Thank you. Thank you both."

Shinya is my number one priority. Even the crown was secondary to her. I already told that to Maddi when she tried to convince me to save Yue with her. At least the chief had the decency to accept where my heart was, but Maddi wouldn't drop the subject ever since she brought it up. I'm afraid that she will do something stupid that will affect me.

"Sokka. Zizaku. Aang, Katara and Shinya are in trouble. A firebender with a scar attacked us." Yue made my blood go cold as she explained to us the situation. I forgot that this was a thing. And I didn't realize that Shinya was with them. While I was glad to finally meet Zuko, I knew how unhinged he was in season 1.

* * *

Maddi

I sat on top of a house trying to stifle my guilt about my decision on how to save Yue when the first fireballs crashed through the wall. What I did was the right thing. Nothing bad would happen to her. Aiden assured me that. Besides, no one at all died in this episode, except Yue, right? This way I would force Aiden to help me. Then he'll realize how important it is to make sure this world goes through the motions completely. Right? Right?


	4. Siege of the North Part 2:War

_Aiden/Zizaku_

When we arrived at the spirit oasis the Avatar was gone and Katara wept her loss. Sokka immediately went over to comfort his sister. Shinya came up to me and began telling me what happened in a panic. I tried my best to calm her down. I stroked her hair as she kept me in an embrace.

"Zizaku, are you coming?" Sokka's voice ended our contact. He and the others were already on Appa with Yue following after them. I shook my head. I 've never liked travelling by flight.

"I'm sorry Princess but you will have to stay where it is safe." I'm not sure what I was thinking but I clearly forgot that General Zhao would show up. I created tentacles of water and brought her down.

"Fine," she pouted.

"Well I'm going," Shinya shot down my protest with a rather questionable explanation. "They might need a healer," she winked at me.

"So why can she go but not me" Yue questioned as they flew off.

 _Maddi_

I watched as soldiers escorted citizens, mainly women and children, out of the city's walls. I guess they had plans for invasions like these. I could hear the sounds of battle at the front gate. Cries of pain and of assumed victory. I did my best to not flash my weapons and just wander about trying to look like one of the curious citizens. It was dull and boring to wait for the battle to crawl a bit further in. I felt my face flush with guilt as I realised what I was hoping for. I shook it off. My mind then started to slip to what I did. The favour I asked of Shinya. To protect the spirits at any cost. I couldn't regret my decision. I had to change the world, for the better.

I slipped out of the crowd, creeping past the warriors trying to protect the women and children. They were heading to the safest place manageable, but if something went wrong here there wouldn't be a safe place. I retrieved my bow, quiver of arrows, and fans from their hiding place and after making sure that they weren't damaged from the cold hurried to the city.

It was quiet, the city had the feeling of abandonment like no one lived there anymore. It was so empty and hollow. It was eery.

"So what are you planning." I jumped, spinning in shock to see Nut standing behind me and a sly smile on her face.

"You scared me." I jabbed. Nut just laughed cynically.

"You should not have been so on edge." If I could attack any spirit in the world, I would choose her. She was starting to get on my nerves. She thought everything was just a game. Even this war we were fighting. Then again this must be child's play for her. She's seen many wars go past. Wars even worse than this one.

"What do you want?" I replied sharply. Nut laughed again and leaned back.

"I just wanted to remind you that you need to save Yue." I stopped and narrowed my eyes.

"Why are you so determined to protect Yue? What does she mean to you?" Nut glared and suddenly I was facing a woman, full of ancient power who stood as tall as a mountain.

"That girl is a threat to me if she dies." I frowned deeply. How on earth could Yue be a threat to this spirit? She would become the spirit of the moon, how could she be competition for the north star?

"How," I demanded. I needed answers. Had Nut saved me only to stop Yue's death, if so why was this such a big deal. I didn't understand.

"You seem to believe that because La is in the form of a fish that she is mortal. As if a spirit could become as mortal as one of your kind. Our mortality is nothing like the kind you know. You cannot kill a spirit, we only fade away when what we represent no longer exists. Your legend predicts Zhao will attempt to kill La. He would succeed and Yue would sacrifice herself for the betterment of her people." Nut leaned forward, silver eyes intense despite their blankness.

"But while her sacrifice would be honoured she would be the spirit of the moon for no more than ten human generations. After that La would be reborn and Yue would be... demoted to the first lady of the moon." My stomach dropped. I understood now. Nut was the first most lady serving under La, if Yue would take the position Nut would be the second lady. Not nearly as important. That was when another thing occurred to me. Ten generations... two hundred and fifty years. That would mean that at least three avatars would be born and die before Yue would be replaced by the rightful spirit. Long after Korra's time as the avatar. It made sense in some twisted way that even the spirits that were supposed to be mortal wouldn't have the same type of mortality as us.

If I didn't save Yue she would only have about two hundred and fifty years to be the spirit of the moon. Or I could save La and by default, Yue and stop all that from happening. I knew what I had to do, after all, what sort of person would I be if I just let Yue die?

"Why not ask Aiden? He's a powerful waterbender. He's under the tutelage of the Master Waterbender and he's from my world. He would be more capable than me for this job," I pointed out.

"I have seen Aiden's heart. He would not understand the reasoning. He is hard and cold. Only his love can mellow him out. And even if I can get him to give me his word, he is already marked for someone else." She narrowed her eyes at me knowingly. There was something that she knew and she wouldn't tell me. I'm not sure whether I even wanted to know.

"I'll save Yue, but not for you Nut, I'll save her because it is the right thing to do," I told the spirit sharply earning an applause from her.

 _Aang_

I opened my eyes in the familiar lotus position. I was sitting on a brown lily pad, backed by giant reeds. I blinked once then stood. I was in the spirit world. Everything appeared washed in shades of brown, except the huge heron that flew by then vanished into the mist that seemed to be everywhere. This part of the spirit world reminded me of a swamp, tall trees with tendrils of moss were everywhere and there appeared to be no landmarks that I could use.

I wandered for a little while, unsure of where I was going. Everything looked the same. It was a sound that caught my attention. Turning slightly I saw the familiar form of a monk meditating on a hill. As I approached I realised that this monk was some sort of monkey, although it wasn't a kind I recognised.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to disturb you I just need to find the moon and ocean spirits."

"Go away." He replied. There was a pause and then he opened one eye. "You're still here," he frowned. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was annoyed. But he couldn't be. Meditation doesn't allow that.

"Yes, I need-"

"Ommmm." He cried, squeezing his eyes closed. I didn't move. He opened his eyes again and glared at me as I picked my nose.

"Look there," he stated pointing at a small glowing orb, "perhaps that thing will help you-" He said something else but I wasn't listening.

"Thank you!" I took off after the glowing object as it bounced and twirled its way through the spirit world. I chased it up a tree, only for the tree branch to vanish beneath my feet, dropping me into the shallow water below. The orb vanished into the sky, leaving me alone.

"Hello, Aang." Maybe not entirely alone. I looked down at my reflection. Instead of myself, Avatar Roku looked up at me.

"Roku, the water tribe is under attack. I need to find the ocean and moon spirits." To my surprise, Roku rose from the water to stand in front of me.

"The ocean and the moon are ancient spirits, Aang. They are two of the five spirits that represent the world. However, I do not know where they are. Only other spirits, as ancient as them could tell you."

"Great. Tell me where I can find other spirits that old." I cried, there had to be plenty around, it was just a matter of where I could find them.

"It is not that simple Aang," Roku explained tiredly, "The ancient spirits do not care much for those who have just joined their world and do not make it easy for one to find them. And the ocean and moon spirits crossed over to the mortal world many years ago. However, I do know of one not too far who will know. His name is Koh." Roku seemed tired, but I was too worried to notice. I didn't have time to waste.

"Great, tell me where he is."

"This spirit is dangerous," Roku warned, "They call him the face stealer. When you speak with him be careful to show no fear. No expression at all or he will take your face." I could feel the horror working its way onto my face even as Roku said that.

Roku directed me to Koh's lair. It was deep in the middle of this part of the spirit world. I felt like I was walking to my own death but I had no choice. I had to find the ocean and moon spirits.

"What would Maddi say about this?" I wondered aloud. I cried out in frustration and smacked my hand to my forehead. Why hadn't I just looked for Maddi? She probably knew where the ocean and moon spirits were. I felt stupid once that thought occurred to me. Maddi could have given me the information needed to win this battle... but if she could why didn't she just tell me. I felt frustration rise but I pushed it down. I needed to focus, I could talk to Maddi later. Besides, she had said that she didn't know everything. Perhaps there was something I would learn here that she didn't know about.

Koh's lair was a giant twisted tree and at the bottom, a set of stairs lead down into the darkness.

"Umm, hello? I'm looking for a spirit. A spirit named Koh." I called as I came towards the end of the stairway. It was so dark I could barely see.

"Welcome avatar." My face remained carefully impassive as a white face appeared in front of mine. It was a good thing I was prepared for this. Inside though, I was shaking.

"Hello," I replied blankly.

"So my dear friend the avatar has seen it fit to greet me once again in my own home." Koh slithered around. His body was shaped like a caterpillar-centipede thick and fat with many long spindly legs. His face was blank, in the centre a largemouth in which a mortal face sat. It was nerve-wracking.

"You know me," I stated. I didn't feel safe posing it as a question in case that too was interpreted as emotion.

"Oh yes, one of your pre-incarnations tried to kill me a few hundred years ago. Something... about stealing the face of the woman you love." The face changed in front of my eyes to that of a beautiful water tribe woman. I would recognise the blue eyes and dark skin anywhere.

"But that's all in the past right," He said, his voice now feminine and sweet. It was almost more disturbing to hear him speak through her voice. Images of Katara kept appearing in my mind. The face shifted once again, to the same one he had originally spoken to me with.

"After all, you're different now. You have a new face." He began crawling around me but I didn't turn to keep eye contact. I remained perfectly straight with no emotion. It was a struggle and keeping my voice calm was equally hard. I pretended I was meditating, nothing could disturb me, nothing could bother me.

" _You vile creature. You deserve the darkest pits of the spirit world!_ " A previous reincarnation of myself suddenly appeared out of nowhere startling me and making me slip up with surprise before vanishing.

"It's been a while since I have added a child's face to my collection. So, what can I help you with." By the time he turned to look at me, I managed to compose myself again and I wasn't showing any emotion again.

"I am looking for the moon and ocean spirit."

"Ah yes," Koh stopped moving for a second to just look at me, "the ocean and moon, push and pull. Their spirit names are Tui and La. But that isn't what you want to know, is it? You want to know where they are?"

"Yes, please," I replied in a hollow voice. Koh sighed, almost as if he was disappointed.

"You've already met them. Tui and La, push and pull are tied eternally in a dance. They can never break, never stop. Forever caught. Push and pull, light and dark, good and evil." As Koh spun around me an image appeared in my mind. A white koi with a black spot and a black koi with a white spot. The koi fish in the spirit oasis were the spirits of the ocean and moon.

"Thank you, you were very helpful," I stated then turned and left. I could not get out of there fast enough. The place was creepy and I did not want to be the first avatar to lose his face.

 _Maddi_

The Moon was out by the time I was fully regretting my decision. I was starting to see people being killed. Mainly Fire Nation soldiers but there were also innocents and Water Tribe Warriors being killed. I could no longer trust the source material when it came to battles. The battle on Kyoshi Island and this siege have cemented that already.

My ears focused on a child crying. It was a little girl, nearly Katara's age and she was cornered by a soldier carrying a whip. I notched an arrow and pointed it at his exposed head. He must've lost the helmet in battle or he was cocky enough to think he was safe from harm. Regardless, I couldn't bring myself to let go of the arrow. I couldn't kill him. Just like everyone here has a family, he too could be a brother, a father, a lover, or even the head of a dependent family. I let go of the arrow, but not at his head but at his torso. It knocked him back and down on the ground.

After a moment of brief stunning, he got up and was ready to chase after the little girl escaping when a javelin materialised through his throat. I lost it, I lost my lunch at the sight of blood draining from his throat and pooling in his mouth.

It was the light leaving his eyes that scared me the most.

 _Aiden_

Whoever said that "the light" leaves people's eyes are stupid. There wasn't any light and they didn't glaze over either. They just stay the way they were in life. The only difference now is that their owners would never breathe again and the eyes would be frozen forever in the same spot they were at the time of death.

I drove my ice sword into another soldier in the face and grew another Ice spike into a different soldier.

"We shouldn't be spilling blood on sacred ground," Yue stated worriedly.

"What do you want me to do then?" I summoned a wave to crash on the soldiers and freeze them in place. They are certainly going to die of hypothermia. "I'm one person defending the oasis, the other soldiers are possibly dead and the avatar is god knows where. If they get past us they'll kill the spirits so I think we can get a pass on this. Unless you have an idea on how to get rid of them that doesn't involve me losing my concentration." Several firebenders burned through all the icy flechettes I exploded their way. I was getting tired and they would end up overpowering me.

 _Maddi_

I was held up on the battlefield for a while. But I was running late. I had to get to Zhao before something bad happened. The moon suddenly darkened to the colour of blood. Everything else gained a red tint. The sounds of water being manipulated everywhere ceased. It was already happening. I'm late. I ignored everything and pushed my way to the oasis as the moon went back to normal. Shinya was standing next to the pond as Zhao stared at the koi.

I picked up one of the swords laying on the ground on my way in and raised it just as Zhao's fist caught fire. No one was able to respond as quickly as I did as I put myself between the spirits and the flame. I waited for the heat to hit the blade of the sword but was surprised with Shinya's body clipping past my shoulder. Fear and Guilt washed over me as I realized what she'd done. She threw herself in front and it was my fault.

A second blast of fire sent me flying backwards sending my thoughts into chaos as I felt the sword burn my hands.

 _Aiden_

The first few times I tried to attack was useless. I guess that time outside of the water affected La. But I was finally able to produce a waterspout strong enough to wash the firebenders away before collapsing from exhaustion. Zhao wasn't among the soldiers that were now frozen. He was busy fighting Iroh and Katara.

"She's alive!" for a few seconds I felt a glimmer of hope but then noticed Sokka was talking about Maddi. I could see the Avatar take a quick look at Shinya then turn away with sadness and fury in his eyes. Her body almost made me puke. It was all scorched and blackened. Pieces of her skin were falling off revealing raw skin and muscle underneath. Her hair was burned off and her face was unrecognizable.

This couldn't be real. It couldn't be. It was all fake. They were all cartoons. This world didn't exist no matter how real it all looked. But I fell in love with someone who doesn't exist. She was real enough for me and now she was dead.

The atmosphere in here suddenly changed with a gust of wind. Fire no longer cast an orange glow in the oasis. There was a blue light that replaced it. I turned and saw that Aang was the cause of all this. His tattoos were glowing with a ferocity I couldn't explain. There was a primal fear in me that accompanied the sight of him. He slowly walked into the oasis and submerged himself in the water. Tentacles of water began to stretch out from the surface and grabbed anything in its way. Katara and Iroh managed to get out of reach along with Yue who was dragging Shinya's body. But Sokka, Zhao, me and several other soldiers still stuck in ice were pulled into its stomach.

Everything was quiet. I could see what was happening outside in the North Pole, but I was watching it from above. Not from inside the Monster the Avatar created. Even more, it was all happening very slowly.

"Welcome. Child." I turned and saw 5 people standing above me. They seemed to be giants and I could somehow feel their power. It was radiating even more than the Avatar state.

"Who are you?" I recognized La and Tui, the ocean and moon spirits. They were the ones who gave me the current powers I had. The third person was wearing a red, royal fire nation robe, so it was easy to guess who she represented. There was something different about the fourth guy. He seemed to look old and young at the same time. Ill and strong. He reminded me of Clockwork from Danny Phantom. He was looking at me kindly. Lastly, there was a muscular man who was looking at me with disdain. I could feel hatred coming from him.

"We are the spirits from the elements. I am Agni and I am the embodiment of fire," the woman introduced herself. She was actually beautiful. Her body had a seductive curve and her face seemed to be perfection.

"I am Lung. I embody Air. I suppose you already met La and Tui, I was the one who asked them to give you some form of protection. This here is my brother, Prithvi," the man who introduced himself and the man next to him with obvious disdain was the one who I kept seeing in my meditations. "Do not worry about him. He hates his very existence."

"I just want to be left in peace. How am I to do that when I am forced to watch everything that ever happens on land?" He protested.

"Why am I here?" I demanded. "And how can you be here and controlling the Koi monster along with being down there in the oasis?" I asked La as I noticed her appearance vaguely in the oasis. For some reason, I saw traces of Maddi too.

"We are spirits. We can be anywhere and everywhere all at once," La explained as though it were obvious.

"As for why you are here, it is time for you to choose a gift." La came forward and touched my forehead. I felt a sharp pull in my stomach before she ceased contact.

"Any of the four elements are at your disposal." Lung's eyes shifted slightly. There was something he was keeping secret. I already knew who I was going to choose. Shinya was dead and I wanted revenge. I wanted to make her suffer. And I could feel the same from Lung. I didn't know why and I didn't care.

"La and Tui. I thank you both for your gifts. I learned a lot from them. I enjoyed it and it was very resourceful. I could form anything with water, but it just isn't my style. Forgive me. My respects will always belong to both of you." I knew how spirits worked. I've studied myths and legends and I knew how vengeful gods could be. But it seemed I had done it right with these two.

"Agni. I hate to turn your offer down. A beauty like you should never know rejection, but while fire does match my personality, I don't think it'll suit the intentions I have in mind."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," a small smile tugged at the goddess' lips.

"You." I directed myself to the Earth spirit. "I don't care what you think, say, or will do in the future. Something tells me you won't do anything and don't give a fuck about anything. And you'll just attack me for no reason regardless of who I choose." He just kept glaring not bothering to correct me.

I was about to accept Lung's gift when Agni interrupted me. "Oh. You are so much like Maddi! I'm so glad she chose to convince Shinya to sacrifice herself otherwise you would never have gone out into the world." Agni's ecstatic words hit me like a train. Somehow Maddi convinced Shinya to use herself to save La.

"If you ever need anything just call my name into an inferno. I'll be there in a spark. Now I suppose you want to speak privately with Lung?" I nodded absently at the offer as I continued to process what Agni said.

"You know, I also want to get revenge on Maddi. She rejected my offer. She thinks that I want my children to repopulate the world again because that's what I made her believe. Then when she realized that I just wanted to be in the physical realm she shunned me."

"What does that have to do with the gift?" I asked still not looking up at him. If I had the option to fall to my knees I would.

"I can give you the gift of air, but I can also give you something more. We can become like Raava and the avatar. Merge and become one. We can get revenge on Maddison for all the wrongs she made against us."

 _Maddi_

I spent over a week in the healing huts, too exhausted and hurt to know what happened or even have the ability to listen to it all the way through. Once I was strong enough to sit up and stay awake for a few hours, Sokka, Katara, Aang and Yue all came to visit me. I wasn't proud at all in the lengths I took to save her and the glares I was getting from my friends confirmed just how badly I messed up.

"I can't believe you were so stupid to risk your own life!" Was the first thing that came out of Sokka's mouth. He didn't even know half the story.

I looked away in guilt. I traded one person's life for another and I couldn't even apologise to anyone. The aftermath of the siege revealed that Pakku was among the casualties. And Aiden hasn't been seen at all. He's listed as part of the missing. Presumed dead or captured. I don't know which one was worse.

I had lost a lot of my hair from Zhao, at least an inch off the bottom and now I had thick choppy bangs from where the fire had burned the top of my head, searing off at least a layer of hair. My face looked like I had been suntanning without sunscreen and my freckles were probably going insane underneath it. I had also lost my eyebrows and eyelashes but I was lucky to get away with that on my face. It was my hands that had the most damage. They were raw. Skin was peeling off and revealing angry red baby skin underneath. I'm certain I'm not going to be using my bow or fans any time soon. There was no doubt that they would scar, how badly was the only question. My bow was ruined as well, little more than a charred twig, however, my fans from Kyoshi had survived.

"I didn't have a choice. It was either sacrifice myself or let Yue die. But someone ended up dying anyway. I screwed up. I should've been fighting alongside you guys. But I was afraid of the water tribe taking my weapons away so much that I ran and hid," tears spilt out as the weight of my decisions set in. I couldn't take anything back. No matter how much I wanted. I wanted to change things here, but I was too much of a coward to go all the way. That would no longer be a problem. I will do anything I can to stop the bad things from happening.

"I was going to die?" Yue asked. Fear clouded her eyes. I explained everything to her. How I knew what was in store for her but I didn't say anything about where I came from.

"Just please don't do this ever again. Tell us everything you know about something that you want to change so that we can help. I doubt there's going to be another spirit like La that's going to be able to heal you in the future." I nodded accepting Katara's plea.

"Yeah. If you ever think of doing something that stupid again, I'll be tying you to Appa." Sokka's comment made me crack a smile.

"Why didn't you trust us?" Aang spoiled the joyful atmosphere and turned into a solemn one. I stared off into space still haunted.

"I thought I could make a difference alone."

 **A/N: Look out for a special surprise this Friday.**


	5. Octoberfest: The First Spirit Bender

**OctoberFest**

The festivities are wonderful in the North Pole. Every year they gather in the main walled city to celebrate. It is the most spiritual time of the year when spirits manage to at least appear to humans. They cannot interact with the mortal realm as they are in the spirit world but they can still grace them all with their presence.

The Northern Water Tribe have done this for generations. It's part of their culture to be spiritual. Not as much as the air nomads to warrant every birth to result with a bender but still close enough.

"Priestess Yue! Come play with us!" A couple of children called out as they chased each other in the snow. The Priestess didn't move but she did give a small smile.

"Why don't you go and join the celebration? I'm sure the spirits won't mind you taking off for a few minutes," a man in crutches nudged her forward slightly.

"Hahn, I wish I could. But this is my post. To protect and serve the newly established temple. I gave my word to be La and Tui's servant for the rest of my life," Yue closed her eyes fighting back the tears. She sacrificed being with the one she loved in order to keep her place in this world. But so far it didn't seem worth it.

"I know what you sacrificed, Yue. And it's terrible. But as your friend. I encourage you to renew your faith in the world. Starting with a little fun. You can't spend the rest of your life mourning what you lost. I've been down that route. I will never walk again and it's a reminder to how terrible I used to be. But I'm making something good out of this." Hahn's words touched the young girl. What he said was true. They both lost something they loved greatly in the siege but Hahn managed to become a better person from it. Maybe she could too.

Yue resolved to at least participate in one of the activities but she didn't go with the kids. She went to the feast at evening leaving Hahn in the temple in her place.

"I want to congratulate my daughter being chosen by the moon spirit herself to be the priestess. I know she's going to be the best in the coming years," the chief raised a glass. Everyone else in the surrounding tables exclaimed their agreement. Yue stayed sitting down with a blush creeping onto her face. The attention she had now didn't even compare to when she was just a princess.

"Thank you, dad. I will make you proud."

People began to scream. There was an angry spirit attacking the people. It turned over tables and smashed the food. It looked monstrous compared to the spirits floating in and out of the place. Fangs protruded from its face and its eyes seemed to be sharp. And it flowed with a purple aura.

The spirits it neared scattered seeming to be afraid of touching it.

"Everyone get out of here! Shut yourselves in your homes!" The chief commanded. His people obeyed and many of them left the inner city altogether. "Yue. Try and talk to La and find out what's happening. I'll try and hold off the..."

"Dad!" The dark spirit sunk its claws into the chief's shoulders and dragged him up into the air. Several waterbenders thrust their spouts into its form causing it to drop him. The spouts were then collapsed together to catch and safely lower the Chief.

"Go! Now!" Yue obliged without further protest. As she left the spirit managed to sink its claws into some of its brethren twisting them into creatures similar to it.

Hahn greeted Yue with a barrage of question about what was happening.

"Dark Spirits," was all she managed to say before positioning herself in front of the Moon's altar.

"I've been expecting you," La's voice was soothing and somewhat succeeded in calming down the priestess.

"We're being attacked. We do not know why. It's. It's..." yet fear still managed to sneak up on her.

"This is not your nor any of your people's fault. A shift in our balance caused this and this might very well be a regular occurrence."

Yue glanced up at her in horror. If this was to be a regular occurrence then the casualties could be severe. Especially since they didn't know how to deal with these dark spirits.

"Do not worry. You are all my children and in an effort to protect you I shall gift you with the ability to cleanse spirits of the darkness. You shall learn this and teach everyone else the same way I gave you the knowledge," La touched Yue's forehead causing a small glow. Images flooded Yue showing her what she needed to do.

"Only use the bending I gave you to defend yourself from spirits. Do not use it for anything else, my daughter." With that, she disappeared and Yue opened her eyes to a nasty surprise.

A dark spirit was inside the temple holding Hahn in the air. His eyes were blank and glassy. He made no attempt to defend himself as the spirit sucked the life out of him.

"No!" Yue willed the snow into water and imprisoned it in a circle of water. The water suddenly began to glow with energy just like the vision La gave Yue. And the spirit returned to normal before fading from the world in shame of what it was forced to do.

"Hahn, are you okay?" Yue rushed to his side. Soft breathing and his appearance going back to normal reassured her.

She left him in the temple hoping he would be safe in there and went out to save her people.

Water Tribe soldiers were being cornered by two more dark spirits. Only one body was in the snow looking very dead. Eyes gone leaving black sockets and his skin gaunt and wrinkled.

Before the spirits could do that to someone else Yue cleansed them leaving her spectators in awe at what she did.

After the attack of the spirits, Yue spent the next few days giving warriors with enough spiritual connection the gift and teaching them how to use it.

"I'm proud of you, Yue."

"I know that dad."

 ** _A/N: Sorry for this chapter being terrible. I just didn't know how to word the story. This is an embarrassing and shameful moment in my writing career. Hopefully I'll be able to rewrite this later when I'm less stressed._**


	6. Cause and Effect

_Maddi_

I couldn't move my body. I was being smothered and I couldn't breath. Struggling and struggling. I tried to command my limbs to at least flail. But nothing was working. I felt helpless as I floated in a dark void unable to move as my breath was being sucked out of me. Suddenly I was staring down an old man in front of me. He appeared to be in his late 60s no older than my grandfather and my hand was raised above him hold my fans with the sharp edge toward him. His right hand slowly raised to uselessly protect himself. He was begging for his life.

"I have a family. Please, they need me," he pleaded over and over like a broken record. I wanted to lower my weapon but no matter how much I ordered my body to abort I was still forced to watch as I cut deeply into him. Blood spurted up from his neck where the blow connected. The horrific sight haunted me as I went in over and over until his neck was lacerated from the stem. Like a dandelion picked by a child. His head rolled. The chestnut curls bounced not yet soaked in blood. Soft baby blue eyes stared up into the sky with fear forever frozen in them. Like mosquitos in amber. Suddenly I wasn't looking at a soldier, but at a friend.

"Maddi, how could you?" I dropped to my knees in shock as tears streamed out of my eyes. Relief washed over me as I was finally given back the controls to my body.

"Joe, I'm so sorry." I sobbed uncontrollably. I just killed someone. And not just a stranger with a family, but a friend, one that I knew very well. Him and his family

"I'm dead Maddi. You did this to me. And you did this to so many others. Maybe they didn't die by your hands but you didn't stop them from meeting the end." The head bounced up and down as it taunted me. I wailed loudly. There was no calming down anymore. The skin on his face started to disfigure as though acid had just been dropped on top.

"You're not dead. I still love you. You're still here," I pointed at my heart through sobs.

"No you don't. You abandoned me. You abandoned us. We're in totally different worlds. You'll never see me again and I will never see you. Our touch is lost, forever." Joe's head finished melting away sending me back into the black abyss.

I woke up in a wet pillow. My heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird's. I stared up at the hammock above me humming an old lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was little. I'm glad that I'm not one of the screamers. No matter how bad a nightmare was I would never wake up screaming. Crying? Maybe. But screaming? Never in my life.

Ever since we took off on this boat I discovered just how hard war hit people. On my time on the internet there were always people droning about how PTSD was all just in a person's mind and how they could just get rid of it through doing stuff. Keeping their minds busy or even just letting go. But this experience just about proves that they were all just full of BS. They probably don't even know anyone close that deals with that sort of thing.

I could hear someone whimper in the dark. It seemed that I wasn't the only one to suffer from this. Everyone on this ship seemed to wake up with nightmares that had a domino effect. Within an hour everyone's sleep would be interrupted by one person who had a terrible night. The only three who didn't seem to be affected were Katara who never even took part in the battle, Aang who had his meditation to help cope, and Sokka who seemed to have already learned how to deal them. Not even Pakku's death seemed to have taken a toll on him. Katara on the other hand still sort of mourned him. His reveal to be their gran's former lover only to then be taken from them seemed to have at least some sort of effect. Something told me that the Water Tribe siblings would be ready for everything they were to face.

I slipped out and up onto the deck ready to start the day. It was early dusk, four men manned the ship concentrated on their task. The occupants often came out for strolls to clear themselves from whatever memory haunted them and that's what 4 men seemed to be doing right now.

I leaned out against the side of the ship, breathing in the cold, salty air and looked at my hands. They were wrapped in bandages, stiff and very hard to move. Wrapped in bandages they were stiff and hard to move. Twice a day Katara would pull me aside and practice her healing on them. There were going to be scars for the rest of my life but they wouldn't affect my mobility after the first two months as long as they got regular treatment. It was a constant reminder of not only my promise but my mistakes.

* * *

I woke up with a scream, my voice pitching up an octave so it sounded like a little girls. Shaking myself I clambered out of the sleeping bag, walking over to the stream we had camped near. I splashed my face, shaking. The nightmares hadn't stopped and gotten worse. I was now waking up from the terrors screaming. After two weeks of doing this my throat was raw and hurt whenever I tried to talk. It had been three days since the beginning of book 2 and I was feeling drained.

I had a new bow, gifted to me from the water tribe made out of some sort of whale bone reinforced with packed ice from the oasis but the replacement of my weapons wasn't enough. I was scared. For the first time since I had came here I had truly understood that I could die here. Death had seemed like it wasn't truly reality, like it was some sort of dream here. If I ever died nothing would happen, I would just wake up back in bed. But the killing of a man and seeing the funerals of the dead and mourning the missing had really been a kick in the head. And now I was terrified of the journey I had began. I had been a stupid naive girl and now I was paying for it. With a sigh I crawled back to my sleeping bag and lay on my back, looking up at the stars. They gazed down cold, heartless as if I was nothing to them. To the stars I was little more than an insect to be watched.

"You never struck me as a philosophical type, Madison. If you did then I would've introduced myself with a riddle. What do you think about this one? What can you hold in your left arm arm that you can't in your right?"

"Hi," I replied in a small voice. "Please, stay." I really didn't need to ask her to stay. While Aang had Roku as a guide, Nut had become that to me in such a short time. I was glad. It was comfortable… it was familiar. But sometimes she did get a bit too much.

"About time you get rid of that sarcasm you always carry around. It's a nice quirk you have but it gets annoying." I didn't answer, just stared down at the water following random waves that caught my eye.

"I owe you a debt Madison, you made sure that I remained foremost handmaiden of the sky. That is a debt I cannot repay easily." I sighed and sat up, looking right back at her. For some reason Nut had lost her little girl form and she now appeared about my age.

"You've already told me that a hundred times," I sighed.

"Just know that if you ever need my help, you can just call." I nodded absently and returned to looking at the ocean. We both sat in silence until the sun came up sending Nut back into the spirit world.

My friends would wake up soon and we would continue on our way to Omashu in a few hours. To get ahead of the game I packed up my bags and put them away on Appa's pack. While I was doing that Aang sat up, rubbed his eyes and began his morning meditation. He remained carefully focused on the matter at hand. I understood that feeling and let him focus on his routine. While I rekindled the fire Sokka and Katara slowly roused.

Breakfast was quick, eggs and wild peppers that Aang had found when we docked a while back. I was very thankful that the airbender wasn't vegan, it had been hard enough finding him food in the North Pole that fit his mandate. After breakfast was over we clambered onto Appa and took off. Aang, Katara and Sokka chatted and told stories, played games and various other activities to pass the time. I allowed myself to be glad that I was able to tell my friends what would have happened had we gone to General Fong's. That allowed us to skip visiting the Earth kingdom general.

I smiled slightly, because of me we were a week ahead of schedule. I knew this was going to change things but for once I wasn't worried. I was welcoming it instead. What would come would come, I had been making changes throughout my time here and they were eventually going to catch up to me. And as terrible as it sounds, with Aiden gone I wouldn't have to worry about changes made by others. In my opinion it was a good thing. I had also noticed with interest that some things were starting to change within my friends. Katara and Aang always had to be near some kind of water where they would work on their bending for hours. It got to the point where Sokka and I were doing most of the cooking. Not that I minded as it gave us a chance to add in an extra dish of meat when we could. Fish especially was popular as Aang seemed to have decided to compromise and was now willing to eat fish and other sea foods. I wondered if part of this was from all his time spent around the water tribe whose main diet consisted of sea foods.

Sokka on the other hand was focusing more on studying benders and their fighting techniques. For now he only had the waterbenders from the north and his sister to study from. He says that it helps him know how to better fight our opponents, he's tried to convince me to join him too since I'm a non bender as well, but with my hands being how they are I can't really practice right now. Or even study.

Around lunch we landed at a beautiful river, huge stones created ideal places to sunbathe, not that I needed it with my burns from the battle. A two huge stone pillars created a doorway which the water passed through. It was beautiful and I wondered if at one time this was a temple or a spiritual place that waterbenders would come to. While Katara and Aang decided to work on their bending Sokka and I decided we needed some much deserved relaxation and stripped as well. While Sokka floated around in the water, his hair left to hang down with Momo on his stomach I leaned against the cool side of one of the stones, deep in thought. This was the place where if we had come here three days late we would have met the hippies. As it was though, I needed to really think about whether we should take the cave of two lovers or not. I didn't know if the fire nation base was there but it was a possibility. That was when another thought occurred to me. Omashu was probably already taken and I should probably tell them that as well. With a sigh I sloshed back into the sunlight.

"Sokka, Katara, Aang? If you have a moment I need to talk to you." Katara and Aang turned from their bending, dropping the octopus arms and making their way over to me. Sokka grumbled about not having enough time to relax but came over as well, carrying a disgruntled and wet Momo as the lemur had fallen off Sokka when the water tribe prince had stood.

"What is it now?" Katara asked, her blue eyes troubled, darting around.

"We're not in danger of being attacked, not right now anyway," I said remembering how a fireball almost brought them crashing down in the episode. "I want to talk to you guys about two things, our path of Omashu and what happens when we get there... if you think I should tell you."

"Is this another part of your story?" Aang asked, placing an elbow on his knee as he leaned in. I nodded firmly.

"Yes, I just recognized this river. We're less then a day's journey from Omashu." I could see the grins on my friends faces as they realized that the journey to Omashu was almost over.

"Okay so is this a big thing or little thing?" Sokka asked. I could see his mind working, trying to figure out what could happen.

"Well that's the hard bit," I admitted, picking up Momo and cuddling him. His damp fur stuck to my skin.

"I'm not sure if being a week early to Omashu would make any difference, but in the legend I know Omashu wasn't conquered by the Fire Nation." There was silence as my friends digested the bomb I dropped.

"Well I'm all for the safer route," Katara pointed out in fake cheer. I guess she didn't know what to say and tried to lighten up the atmosphere. I didn't blame her, she had been through a lot in the last few weeks. Aang on the other hand suddenly jolted upright.

"Is Bumi okay?" He demanded.

"Yes. He's fine. He's the one who surrendered in the first. Place. He won't want to be saved. You're going to try to get him out but he's just going to say that he's waiting to strike at the right time." I tried to assure him. "But that doesn't mean we can skip a visit to the kingdom. There are people in there that need our help. And we're going to give it to them."

* * *

It was devestating to see the hopless acceptance in the eyes of my friends when they saw the red flag on the wall of Omashu.

"Is this always going to happen?" Aang asked softly. I assumed it was a rhetorical question as he continued on. "Will we always end up two steps behind the fire nation?"

"No." Katara promised, her eyes were hard, "We won't." I smiled at Katara's effort to cheer Aang up. In a few month's time the two would finally seal their lives together. But Sokka and I still had to share a nervous glance. While it was great to see those two determined I was worried. By the end of this war any innocence would be long gone. Then again, innocence was always gone after a war. My generation in North America was lucky to be born in a time of peace and when a war did arrive it was offshore and only the army and volunteers got involved if they chose to. No one in Canada was forced to join the army. So it was a surprise to learn during my time in the States that there was such a thing as a draft. This place was similar to them. It was either join the fight or be killed from the effects of the war. The effect of war in the states was a bit different however, you could avoid the draft but it would label you as a traitor either by the government or it's patriotic citizens.

* * *

"You know what, I've changed my mind, how about we fly over the walls," I suggested, backing away from the sludge. I could tell that my friends weren't excatly happy about this either. Aang shook his head and stepped in, calling.

"Come on, Bumi's waiting for us." Katara quickly vanished in after him followed soon after by Sokka. I remained frozen to my spot. That was sewer sludge, I had forgotten since Haru's village just what that meant. Back in Canada, heck, back in North America sewers held water, debris and garbage. We had a separate system for plumbing. Not here though, here we had chamber pots which were than promptly dumped into the streets along with the bathwater, kitchen scraps and everything else. I was suddenly very aware of how dirty that would be. A breeding ground for all kinds of disease and bacteria. I had never been paranoid over germs before but this terrified me. I quickly pulled the fabric of my dress up, covering my nose and mouth before stepping in.

I was careful not to look anywhere but Sokka, my eyes riveted to his back. Each step I took I shivered in disgust. We finally made it to the top, I scrambled out so fast that I nearly knocked Sokka over. I dropped the neckline of my dress, taking large gasping breaths. My dress was soaked with sewage up to my knees and my small shoes only covered up to my ankles. I was better off than Sokka. He was covered in the stuff from head to toe from Aang and Katara's bending and it was makin me queasy. Luckily for us there was a barrel of rainwater nearby that Katara used to wash Sokka and I. Aang than dried us off. I was still slightly traumatized by the experience of the Omashu sewer system and I was feeling like I would never eat again when Sokka shouted. I jumped in shock.

"AHH! Get it off! Get it off!"

"Calm down Sokka," Aang stated, quickly dealing with the issue. I laughed gently when I realized that it was a pentapus, this worlds five armed version of an octopus. Aang easily rubbed the little creature on its head, causing it to detach from Sokka, a star shaped mark of purple splotches. I snickered as Katara removed the second one on his arm, than yelped myself when I felt something move on my leg. Lifting my skirt I glared at the offending pentapus and gently pulled it off. There was a shout, causing me to drop the pentipus and shoot upright. Two fire nation guards came running up to us, spears pointed at us.

"Hey! What are you kids doing out past curfew?" Katara was the first to reply.

"We were just heading home, I'm sorry it won't happen again sir." The soldier nodded.

"Make sure that it doesn't." We nodded and quickly turned to walk away when one of the soldiers noticed something.

"What's wrong with him?" We turned back in confusion. I frowned, looking at where the guard's finger was pointing. Sokka's face. I suddenly remembered the ruse Sokka would use later. In an instant I found myself blurting.

"Pentapox sir." The soldiers looked worried so Katara added quickly.

"It's highly contagious." Nodding her head as if to make the lie more believable.

"Oh it's awful I'm dying!" Sokka quickly added, catching onto the ruse. I could see the panic grow in the eyes of the soldiers as they took a few cautious steps back.

"Didn't your cousin Chang die from that?" One asked the other nervously.

"Maybe we should go," the other suggested. Sokka coughed dramatically causing him to jolt.

"And burn our clothes!" The guards took off running as fast as they could, vanishing from our site in a few seconds. Aang laughed at how well the lie had worked but I was caught up deep in thought. The pure fear in the eyes of those men worried me. They really had been scared for their lives. Once again I was reminded how I was immune to many diseases that would kill in this time. Polio, small pox, and so many others that were killers here could never touch me.

"Come on, we need to find Bumi." Aang called as he walked away. We followed after him. After a moment I broached the topic with Sokka.

"How many people die from disease here?" I asked softly. Sokka looked at me in confusion before shrugging.

"Well I don't know about Omashu or much about the earth kingdom but back home I'd say about fifteen in a good year. If there was a plague or something else it could be in the hundreds." He paused and looked off, eyes unfocused as he admitted.

"A single plague could wipe out an entire village." I shivered in terror. Back at home disease wasn't something to fear, not that much anyway. Now I felt ill just thinking about how many people could die from a simple flu. Back home my friends would think it funny to joke about simple illnesses. Goes to show how much modern marvels protected us.

"Don't you have disease where you come from?" Sokka asked noticing my silence.

"Yes," I admitted softly, "But we had ways to stop it, medicines that would kill the virus or antibiotics to get rid of the bacteria. Very few people ever die from illness anymore. We even have a special way to stop ourselves from every getting sick from certain illnesses." Sokka shook his head.

"Sometimes your world sounds like paradise." I forced a laugh.

"Sokka my world has problems, just as many as yours, the only difference is the type of problems we face." We fell silent. A few minutes later the sound of heavy footfalls alerted us to soldiers coming our way and we quickly hid behind a bunch of scaffolding. Three fire nation soldiers passed by us, completely unaware.

"So where would they be keeping Bumi?" Katara asked softly turning to face Aang.

"Somewhere he couldn't earthbend," the young avatar replied, "Somewhere made out of metal." I felt a touch of curiosity and this comment. While I was well aware that most earthbenders couldn't metal bend I couldn't' help but wonder if Toph really had created the bending style or if it had been lost for centuries and she rediscovered it. One of the most prominent sayings in my childhood had been that there is nothing truly original, if you have thought about it someone else has too. I didn't know whether that saying had any truth in it but it defiantly made me think.

We were walking along an elevated road that pressed against one of the walls in Omashu when I noticed a yellow glow below us. I desperately tried to remember this part but only came up with a blank. My knowledge of this episode was limited almost exclusively to the battle between the Gaang and Azula. As I peered down I realized that it was two people, surrounded by guards. In a flash memory hit me. It was Mae, her mother and her little brother Tom-Tom. Around this time would be when a rogue boulder would be deflected by Aang and give us away. Luckily that wasn't happening today. Unluckily, I was the one to give us away by slipping off the roofs.

"The resistance!" I heard a woman, probably Mae's mom shriek as I picked myself up. The other figure, Mae began to run straight at us. I knew that there was a steep incline slope to slow her down but I doubted that would do much.

"Crap," I hissed before turning to my friends.

"We got to go!" I cried. I bolted and I could hear my friends drop and follow me. I could also hear the sounds of small daggers implanting themselves in the wall, only failing to reach us because of Aang's airbending.

"Quick, this way." A strange voice called. I didn't even pause to think, following the voice and vanishing along with my friends from Mae's sight.

"Thanks for saving us." Katara said in the darkness. I could hear her dust herself off. I quickly followed, moving to stand beside my friends as soon as torches flickered to life.

I blinked in shock to see 3 men in Earth kingdom clothes standing in front of us. The excitement had made me forgotten why we had come in the first place. Save the resistance.

"Who are you?" Aang questioned, not looking entirely comfortable with the disguises the men were wearing. After a moment the hats and scarves came off, revealing two men in their mid-forties and one young man about my age. One of the older men, who I assumed was the leader bowed formally.

"My name is Yalan and I am leader of the resistance here in Omashu. Welcome Avatar. " We bowed back, not having to introduce ourselves as it was pretty obvious who we were. Something about Yalan's sentence interested me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"What happened here?" Aang asked. Before anyone could reply Sokka added.

"How did the fire nation win, and how long have they been here?" There was silence. Yalan sighed and gestured down the tunnel.

"Follow me and I'll answer your questions." He took the torch from the other man and began the descent. My companions and I followed close behind while the other two benders watched our backs.

"Two days ago the fire nation came to Omashu. I was the leader of the king's elite guard so I approached him and asked him what was to be done. He told me to sit back and do nothing." I could feel the anger radiate from Yalan at the prospect of his king practically giving up. I could understand his emotion. As a warrior and protector of the people you really didn't want to just give up when you could fight. But I also understood Bumi's reasoning.

"Bumi just... gave up?" Aang asked softly, not seeming to believe it. Honestly I don't know why I took time to explain things to my friends when they would forget about it later.

I forgot the conversation as we came into the main cavern. Hundreds of people were here, talking, sitting around cookfires and hundreds of other various activities.

"It doesn't matter now," Yalan stated softly, "The only path to freedom is to fight the fire nation."

"That's not true," Aang pointed out, "There is another path to freedom, leave Omashu. Reatreat, leave so you can fight another day." Yalan looked bothered by that.

"How can we? Omashu is our home, we cannot just abandon it."

"I don't know Yalan," his other companion stated looking thoughtful, "Living for another day sounds like a pretty good option about now." Yalan frowned in thought before he finally agreed.

"Fine, but there are thousands of people who need to leave. How are we going to get them all out?"

"Suckers!" Sokka exclaimed, drawing our attention to him. Grinning like a maniac Sokka explained.

"You're all going to come down with a nasty case of pentapox."

* * *

Acting sick had been pretty fun actually although I felt a little as if we were participating in a zombie walk. It was getting pretty hard not to laugh at the terror in the eyes of the guards. However, I was careful to keep an eye out for a little fire nation toddler. I didn't see him but I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

It was late at night when Aang returned and the headcount had been finished. Tom-tom had made it to us without my noticing and I had quickly taken the infant into my care, releasing Momo from babysitter duty. Katara couldn't help but try to maul the little guy. I had to admit the eight-month old was adorable but my focus was distracted from him when Yalan spoke.

"Sure he's cute now but he'll grow up and join the fire nation's army. You won't think him to be so cute then, he'll be a killer." I jerked and glared at Yalan.

"Do you not think that the fire nation feel the same way about our children? This little boy's nation does not mean he will be a killer. There are fire nation scribes and shop keepers just as there are earth kingdom scribes and shopkeepers." I pointed out sharply.

"You can't blame the children for the mistakes of their parents and you have no right to group all fire nation citizens as ruthless killers. Did it ever occur to you that there are fire nation soldiers who have no choice in what they become? Did you ever think that there were fire nation villages that are slowly starving to death as all their food goes to the war effort that has no purpose except to hold a tradition started by a madman?" I stated. Yalan frowned at me. I could see he was thinking about what I said. I decided that just having him consider my words was enough for now and left the conversation, gently bouncing Tom-tom on my knee.

"A messenger hawk!"

* * *

I walked beside my friends, for the first time since Kyoshi island dressed in my full warrior regalia. Tom-tom was being held by Sokka who didn't seem to mind that much. We stopped when we saw the three girls approach. I couldn't help but gasp when I saw Azula as it suddenly really hit me. These girls were no older than fifteen, maybe sixteen where Mae was concerned. Sokka stood slightly behind me to my right, Aang stood to my direct right and Katara to my left. I was actually surprised at how well the orange cloth hid Aang's tattoo.

The familiar sound of Bumi's laughter attracted my attention to the elderly earth king being lowered to the ground from a crane.

"Hi everybody!" The insane king laughed. I felt a touch of disappointment. I probably wouldn't get a chance to talk to him but I wanted to. I wanted to know how it had been so obvious to him that I was from another world. Aang smiled at the sight of Bumi than turned and projected his voice across the area.

"We're ready to trade." I saw Azula turn to Mae. Her words were loud enough that the voice could be heard but the words weren't. I frowned, I wasn't going to leave my fiends in the dark.

My friends and I already knew they were going to break the trade. I warned them before coming. So we were all tense and ready to fight at a moments notice.

"The deal's off." Mae called, her voice loud enough for us to hear. In an instant they realized that we had expected that. Aang ran straight towards them as the crane began to lift the metal sarcophagus that held the aged king, Sokka ran in the opposite direction, protecting the child while Katara and I moved closer, reading ourselves for battle. I noticed the shock in Azula's eyes at how fast we had moved and I could almost see the cogs turning in her head. She had figured out that we knew what was going to happen before hand, she just couldn't figure out why. She didn't have time to think long, she lunged forward, shooting a blast of blue fire at Aang. To her shock he shot up into the air, far higher than any normal human would. My attention was distracted from the fire nation princess by Mae raising her arm. I knew what she was going to do. In a instant my bow was down and strung, the first arrow shooting towards her hand. Despite my practice I wasn't a perfect shot, the arrow just clipped the edge of one of her fingers. Judging from the yelp of pain though I had managed to make a cut. I kept my eyes wide open, looking for the girl in pink who was by far more dangerous than her companion in black. There! Ty Lee was trying to get at Katara from the back while she battled Mae. A single arrow was sent flying at the girl, only to miss completely when she dodged. I grimaced and notched another one sent it flying than sent the next. The first arrow was for her to dodge, which she did. The second was close behind but in a slightly different direction. Once again it missed the acrobat as she flipped out of the way. I snarled and switched weapons, replacing my bow with my fans from Suki. I charged forward, my entire focus on Ty Lee.

We engaged in a flurry of quick blows. Ty Lee was fast and it was a struggle to keep up with her acrobatic tendencies. One moment she would be in front of me, the next behind me trying to hit pressure points. I quickly began to follow her technique and just kept moving, making it hard for her to figure out where my pressure points were.

"Need a hand ladies?" I ducked as a blue boomerang flew over my head, managing to smack into Ty Lee, giving her a gash across the cheek. Katara quickly abandoned her fight with Mae to charge onto Appa. I followed behind, shooting two arrows to make sure that the two fire nation girls remained where they were. Once I was on his tail Appa took off, causing me to scramble onto his saddle with much more haste than I would have liked. For a minute I laid on the familiar leather, taking a breather. I was covered in sweat and I was pretty sure I had lost at least seven arrows. I sat up, keeping my eyes open for Aang and Azula, knowing that they would be on one of the mail chutes. Sokka spotted him first and directed Appa in the right direction. It didn't matter, Aang shot Bumi and himself off the road towards us. Either adrenaline of overestimating the weight of Bumi caused Aang to completely miss, shooting over our heads and into the city below. Appa flew up, needing to get a better look at where to land nearby. I allowed myself to relax slightly, pushing sweaty bangs out of my face.

We finally found a place to meet Aang but we were to late to catch up to Bumi. Despite the disappointment on Aang's face he didn't question my reasons for not telling him everything that was about to happen. I found myself smiling. My friends respected me and cared for me and we would all give our lives for each other. In my mind there was nothing better in the world.

* * *

"Looks like you were right. They were expecting our betrayal. But how do I know that this wasn't sheer luck? No one trusts the fire nation after all," Azula's eyes narrowed at a prisoner sitting in a dark cell in her ship. It was the day after the avatar escaped and she was genuinely interested in the man she found in the sea.

"I'm fire nation too..."

"No you're not. You might look similar to us but you and I are completely different." Azula interrupted him impatiently.

"Fine. I'm from another world. A world where this is all a legend. And that "Earth nation" girl is from the same place I am. All I ask is that you let me help you capture the avatar and make you become Fire Lord, in exchange for allowing me to destroy her. It's only fair I repay the favour to her." His eyes seemed to give a shine of blue as his breath rejuvenated him.


	7. OctoberFest: First Halloween

**Takes place during Chapter 6 after visiting the swamp. Minor spoiler but other than that it's mostly self-contained. I hope.**

Sokka and Katara were both goofing around just doing childish things along with Aang. It was a welcoming sight. I haven't seen the two of them this happy since we left the South Pole. Our days were mostly filled with exhausting work as we get ready to travel to the next town while avoiding capture from Zuko and his goons.

It was high noon and I was getting bored. I was nearly finished with the fire nation scroll and I didn't really want to completely read it all. Some mystery to what the soldier's last words were would be great for me. But other than getting our things ready for another journey, which was taken care of already, there really wasn't anything for us to do. Actually, there wasn't anything for me to do.

"Pala! Why don't you join us?" Katara called for me as she threw a rock in the air. Aang kept his eyes on it and managed to blast a small gust of air into it and launched it into the sky. For the past minutes, the pebbles that were being launched up had been falling back to earth damaging a few things. But the folks in this earth kingdom village didn't seem to mind. Possibly because there were several other kids enjoying the activities my friends kept coming up with. And as long as they were out of their parent's hair, they would be content with whatever things we were up to.

"I'm okay! Thanks anyway!" I dismissed Katara's invitation.

I got up and walked into the main part of the village where a bunch of men were labouring their time. The sounds of Ostrich-Horses and heaven wooden crates slamming onto surfaces filled the air here. Only three people in the village seemed to be Earth Benders. Two were men who used their abilities to make their tasks easier, the third was a young girl my age already married and pregnant. She was the person I found myself talking with a lot more during the past week. And she was usually around here. I ended up finding her sitting down in the outside area of the small and only fish restaurant in the village.

"Hi Pala!" she greeted me.

"Amala, how's the baby?" I took a seat next to her and patted her stomach cooing at the baby inside.

"A bit troublesome, but nothing I can't handle. If my mother managed to have me and my brother then surely I can also have this little one," she chuckled. "So when are you tying the knot with the boy?" For the time we've known each other, she's been bugging me about my relationship with Sokka. I just couldn't see him that way though. I remember the visions in the swamp, but I couldn't really picture the little girl belonging to Sokka. Even with her water tribe attire. "I think you would make a fine mom. And the sooner you decide to marry, the more options you'll have," Amala sat up straight.

"I wouldn't say no to a baby"— I passed my hand over my stomach happy that someday there would be life in me— "It's just that right now isn't a good time for one. The war for starters wouldn't be very good for any kid." I swear I could see some sadness in the girl's eyes. "And I'm on a journey with the avatar. Travelling wouldn't be good for a kid either. That's why parents are always settled down in one place."

"Those are all good points," she said with sombre tone looking at her own stomach.

"So...do you guys do anything to celebrate the harvest taking place later this evening?" I asked trying to redirect the conversation.

"Oh, uhm. We don't really do much. We just harvest everything and that's the end of that. Why?"

"Because from where I'm from we have this thing called Hallow's Eve. It takes place every year during the harvest."

"That sounds interesting?"

I spent the majority of the day explaining Halloween to her and even ended up planning an event for tomorrow. It was a bit of fun and entertainment for me. Not as much fun as what the kids were doing but I was content. The entire village agreed to go with our plan for the after-harvest and prepared the kids for an entire day of fun.

The following morning started with sounds of excited screaming and music. Outside all the kids were participating in the activities Amala and I planned. A huge table made of earth and covered in ice was placed in the middle of the village.

Katara and Aang were both helping the other adults with handling the kids and making sure they wouldn't get in trouble. Sokka was in charge of keeping the activities like pinning the tail on the Chameleon-Frog and Boomerang throwing safe and working. Meanwhile, Amala and I were supposed to get all houses in the village stocked with treats for the grand finale of the day, Trick-or-Treating.

"Ha! I'm going to get more apples than you!" 3 little girls ran past us on their way to the bobbing for apples.

We were 3 houses away from the celebration and were stocking the last of our treats when Amala suddenly began to cry out in pain. I panicked as I watched her bend over. A small stream of liquid ran down her leg and stained her clothes, that was enough to finally make me snap out of my panic.

I rushed out quickly to get her husband and the village medic. I was told to keep out of the house while they did their work but I couldn't really get my mind out of it. Even by busying myself helping the others I still couldn't stop wanting to go and at least offer my help to deliver the baby.

While I never had any experience in the birthing process of babies, the closest to that was when my mom gave birth to my little brother, but I think I could still do something.

The day passed without further event and the kids started to go from house to house knocking and asking for the treats I set up for them with Amala. Even Katara and Aang joined in the event. Sokka just refused to join saying that it was for children.

Before the day was over, Amala sent for me to come and meet her child. He was cute. She named him Inoo, a strange name even by this world's standards but still wonderful. Inoo had a small matt of dark hair like his father. He was a little chubby and loved it when his mother cooed.

I could feel my throat tighten up and tears well up. He was what I wanted. I lost everything. But I could rebuild my life here. Make this world better so that this could be me one day.

I left silently. My friends and I would be leaving tomorrow and I could say my goodbyes then.

Weight was added to my shoulder along accompanied by a chirp.

"Hey Momo," I said with a smile. "I wonder what you've been up to this day."

 _Momo_

The flying lemur leapt onto an unsuspecting nut. His little paw hands grabbed it and began to slam it on the floor. Once it cracked open to reveal its delicious insides, he popped it into his mouth and began to search for more. Yet his search was ruined by a couple of children nearly trampling him.

With a screech, he flew up into the roofs of the village. There he found a nice spot to nap and feel the warmth of the sun on his fur. He only used up an hour or two to nap before gliding over to where his best friend was, the flying bison named Appa. The two have been through a lot together and they were the only company they held. The little animal wouldn't know what to do if the big guy were to ever go missing.

Appa moaned loudly as he moved over to where the hay was being kept and began to chew on it. The little lemur curiously took a few straws into his tiny paws and examined them. He's seen his giant friend eat these from time to time but he never knew why. The taste was awful. Why would Appa want to eat this when there were watermelons, nuts and other fruits that he also seemed to enjoy? Maybe he couldn't move away from here. He might be sick or injured. So he set it upon himself to go out and bring him some of the most delicious fruits he could find.

The rest of the day was spent avoiding children as he tried to get into a barrel of water with a few apples bobbing. That mission was a bust. He nearly drowned when he sliped and fell in. And the hands of the children that pulled him out wanted to keep him around longer than he wished.

Next was getting a pumpkin. But those things were twice his size and very heavy. It would be impossible for him to fly it all the way to the barn where his friend was taking shelter. To make matters worse, all the people with the pumpkins were carving into them with sharp objects and scooping out their insides rendering them useless for eating. No one would want to just eat the shell of a pumpkin. And scooping the remains would be very messy and difficult.

Momo was just about to give up when night fell. But something stopped him and made his troubles worth while.

"Hi little guy," a small boy grinned. He was missing a few baby teeth and his shirt was missing. But in his hand he held two cloth bags. A big one and a small one. "Want some?" he held the small bag out to the lemur. "I have enough in my other bag and I've seen you around the village trying to get some things. But because you don't have anything I decided to share."

The kid laughed as Momo took the offering. The lemur was stretching his wings ready to leave but he turned and looked at the boy. For a few seconds he jumped onto his shoulder and nuzzled him in thanks. Then he took off with the bag of treats for Appa. Together the two shared their meal and in a couple minutes the bag of treats was empty.

Becoming a little bit too greedy the flying lemur returned to the town when the moon was high to look for more bags. Finding none he settled for a small ride back to the barn on one of his pets perching on her shoulder.

"Hey Momo. I wonder what you've been up to this day."


	8. Swamp And Effect

_Zuko_

It took a long time for Uncle and I to reach the mainland. Even using our firebending to push the raft along all we could do was control speed. We ended up near a resort near the line in the end. Here the cherry trees were beginning to blossom filling the place with a sweet scent. This resort was available to both people of the fire nation and earth kingdom, however, only the nobles could afford it. Luckily my Uncle had a friend I never knew about here that was more than happy to allow us a place to stay.

Despite the tension in my shoulders, I couldn't accept the offers of messages with fragrant oils. Today was not a day for relaxation. A hand on my shoulder caused me to look up into the yellow eyes of my uncle. His eyes were deep with sadness and compassion. For a split second, I felt the need to throw myself into his arms the way I had done when I was a child just like after Lu-Ten had died and after my father began to distance himself me. I would never forget the look in my father's eyes after I discovered I was a bender. I was six years old, two years before my mother vanished, seven before I would be scarred and cast out of the only home I had known. The shame in his face and my realization that if I hadn't been a bender I would have brought less shame to my family.

"I see. It's the anniversary." Uncle Iroh stated softly, taking a seat beside me. I sighed and tipped the straw hat over my face.

"Three years today," I replied. I was torn. For two years I had pursued the Avatar with no other purpose. Now though, I had met Aang and his friend and the small group had influenced my life. Aang was now more than the Avatar to me. I couldn't forget what had happened back on that day I had masqueraded as the Blue Spirit. He had told me about his friend back a hundred years ago and asked if I thought we had been friends. In the end, I had told him to leave. In return, he had smiled and told me that he thought we could have been friends. That brought me to Maddi. That girl had made an impression on me in a way that I could never forget.

 _You have the heart to be a good leader, one your people would love. If your father had let you stay and remain the way you were then his own people would rise up against him and give you the crown. Besides Iroh, you are the only one in the royal family deserving of the peoples' love._

I was unsure of her, conflicted and confused but after meeting Aang I found myself beginning to honestly wonder if maybe they had a point. It was as if something had been lifted from my eyes. I could see another side of the story and it made me sick to my stomach. My father had been cold, distant and angry with me for years before I was banished but I had locked those memories away, convincing myself that if I captured the avatar he would love me again. Now I realized it was a task that I would have never been able to complete.

 _Ozai_

I don't know what my daughter is planning and I don't really care. I just hate secrets. Call me paranoid, but there's been talk about rebellion already. Or so my advisors tell me. This has me on edge. For 3 generations, there has never been a revolt. The fire nation deeply loves the royal family and always support whatever we have planned. But recently with the interactions of Fire Nation Colonies and travelling Earth kingdom citizens, unrest has been growing.

"Watch where you're going," an elderly man growled as he pushed past. I was wearing a robe covering my face. In order to assess the situation myself, I had to go out and see everything with my own eyes. So far there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Maybe my advisors were just useless. My generals were always smarter.

Besides. What does the Fire Lord have to fear from mere peasants? As long as they are kept happy and oblivious they posed no threat.

"...lord Zuko," I caught the finishing of the gossip a couple of women had. Lord Zuko. So there was a rebellion. Or at least the start of one and they preferred a banished son. How shameful. This wasn't anywhere near as a problem as I imagined. This rebellion was not worth my time. If they ever became a problem I would just send a squad to show them their place. For now, I had a kingdom to conquer.

 _Zuko_

We returned to our small cabin with a bag full of shells that uncle couldn't resist taking from the sand. After some time I noticed how careful he was that each and every shell was empty of any inhabitants. It was with the familiar gentle care that my uncle seemed to share for everything under the sky.

"These keep-sakes will bring us joy for years!" He cried causing me to shake my head. Four months ago I would have shouted at him but now I felt like I couldn't tell up from down any more. Had one girl really made this much of a change in my life?

 _You are a kind, compassionate person Zuko._

 _Do you think we might have been friends?_

Now I was thinking of Aang again. Why was this happening to me? I winced, I was going to get a headache if this kept up.

"Hello, brother." I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. A couple of years didn't do much to alienate the coldness in my sister's voice. But she did change in other ways. She was taller, I could feel her pride and arrogance. It seemed that Puberty wasn't a problem to her either. She was never a sweet little girl. Even back then she was still cruel. I once saw her torture a little duck with her fire. The only difference now was the pride she had. The training with Father surely left something on her. She was always the favourite. Even before her first blue flame.

"What? No greeting?" She challenged, gold eyes sharp. Malice threatened us from her eyes. "Not even from you? Dearest Uncle?"

"To what do we owe this honour?" Uncle asked. I could tell he was uneasy, he was always frightened of her. Said she looked too much like her grandfather. A strange feeling welled up in my gut, one that I couldn't quite place. I tried to shake it off.

"Hmm, must be a family trait to not show respect to the crown. I'm particularly glad this one missed me." She stated. Her voice was like the north, cold and unforgiving. She moved toward me with a smile that long ago would have unnerved me, now however that feeling in my gut simply grew stronger.

 _Aiden_

"I'm glad to finally be free!" I stretched and enjoyed the feeling of the sweet ocean breeze and the warmth of the sunlight as it hit my face. Minnow-gulls bawked flying around the ship as they got their slimy fins over everything every time they settled down. The creatures of this world would never stop surprising me.

"I wouldn't count my chicks before they hatch. Azula tends to be...unpredictable at times," Mai came up behind me polishing one of her knives. Contrary to the show, Mai did talk regularly. She just didn't do so when she didn't have anything to say. "She once flipped her switch just because I…"

"Don't worry, I can handle myself," I interrupted not really caring about any story she could come up with.

"You might think you can control her, but in the end, she's the one controlling you," Tye Lee passed by doing several cartwheels. The sight of her cracked my stone facade. As a preteen, she was my first cartoon crush. I just considered her cute. And the Beach episode I watched didn't help me at all. But that form of affection wore off as I grew. Now here I was with the real person on the same boat as me. Did I feel anything? Maybe. But not as much as I used to.

Their worry was sound, I knew how Azula was. Even if I didn't watch all the episodes she appeared in, the ones I did watch were quick to prove how devious she was.

The only people on the ship other than the 3 of us were crewmen. Azula herself didn't come. She was off doing her own thing. She didn't bother to tell us what it was and I didn't watch the season 2 opener. But I didn't care. Right now I was focusing on the most important task Lung gave me. The mission to find a Lion Turtle. A young one who owed him, us, a favour.

"...put me in a very dangerous show," I didn't know what Tye Lee was talking about. I didn't pay attention to her story. I didn't even know she was telling one. Luckily she didn't notice since she changed the subject without waiting to see my reaction. "So, has the Ghosty person said how close we are to Tortoise Island?"

"Lion-Turtle," Mai corrected for me.

"No. He's been meditating at the hull for a long time." I was the only person who was able to see and speak with Lung. I was lucky that Tye-Lee believed me otherwise Azula and Mai would've written me off as crazy and a liability and I wouldn't be breathing to make a journey at all.

 _Maddi_

"Why not? Stranger things have happened," Sokka leaned back onto Appa. I was surprised at his reaction this time, or lack thereof. Denial and Ignorance were usually what I expected from him. "What?" and apparently so did everyone else since we were all looking at him in surprise.

We landed in a clearing large enough to prevent Sokka from going trigger happy with his boomerang on the swamp. Thanks to me we weren't going to be flung about by a tornado into the ground.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do? Is there like a spirit or something that I have to meditate to talk to?" Aang asked.

"I'm not sure. The first time you guys came here, you were separated by a storm. Appa and Momo were being hunted by waterbenders while you guys were lead to the heart of the swamp with visions of the past and future. All I know is that this is where you find your earthbending teacher Aang."

"So we just have to stick together?" I think I confused Aang even more with my explanation.

"Maybe?"

"Sokka," Katara warned. I looked at where she was looking at and saw her brother trying to sneak off.

"I'm just going to get some timber for a campfire while we wait." Sokka left without further discussion.

"I'll go get him," I ran after him forgetting about what we just talked about. The moment I passed the brush of the clearing I found myself to be lost. I tried to backtrack into the camp but ended up wandering even further. "Sokka!" I called hoping at least he was nearby. I spent what seemed to be the next hour discovering the swamp's ability to mess with your sense of direction.

"Momma?" the voice startled me causing me to trip and fall into a puddle of mud. Laughter rose from my embarrassing stunt. "You're so funny, Momma. Let's keep playing!" a little girl laughed. She seemed eerily familiar. She was around 5 years old and had her hair secured into pigtails with a red cloth. And her dress seemed handmade in the style of the watertribe. It even matched the colours. But what scared me the most was what she wore around her neck. It was a pendant. My pendant with all the nation's symbols in it. Except that instead of having a black cord it was tied with a piece of silk around her neck.

I chased after her trying to catch up to her. But instead of getting closer, I got further away from her. I ended up losing her to the swamp and out of breath.

"Hello, Maddison." I heard the familiar voice as I leaned on a tree to catch my breath and rest.

 _Zuko_

"I've come with a message from home. There has been talk of a rebellion, treacherous plotting against the crown. Father realized that family are the only ones who are trustworthy. He's revoking your banishment. You should be glad that he's paranoid enough to feel it's safe to have you two by his side instead of out and wandering about the country."

 _Show them that you would be a better leader then Ozai, then overthrow him._

Why couldn't I get that girl out of my head? However, wasn't Maddi a colonial? Could she have been talking about this rebellion? Could it be that the rebellion that Azula was talking about wanted me as Fire Lord? A creeping suspicion slithered into my mind. If that was true, father wouldn't want me home where I was within easy access of the rebellion. He would want me far out of their reach. But it also made sense that by being close to him he would be able to keep an easier eye on me and therefore out of reach from the rebellion. For him to invite me home meant that one of three things were happening. Either Azula was lying again or she was telling the truth for once in her life or uncle and I were going to be imprisoned. Azula either didn't notice my disbelief or she chose to ignore it.

"I'm still waiting for my thank you. I'm not a messenger, I didn't have to come here to give you the news." I looked at my sister. There was something wrong here and her words of a rebellion were ringing in my ears. I tried to answer her but the only words that I could manage didn't come out the way I wanted.

"A rebellion?" Azula looked ready to slap me across the face. I could feel the anger radiating off her in waves but she seemed to pull herself out of it with ease although there was a tenseness in her eyes that wasn't there before.

"Yes, a rebellion. I understand how that might seem ridiculous but it's true." She paused, "I can see this is all too much for you. I'll come see you tomorrow when you can think more clearly." With those parting words my sister, who I hadn't seen in three years swept out of the cabin.

It was later, once she was long gone that I realized that feeling in my gut, was pity.

 _Maddi_

"Hi, Nut. What brings you to this neck of the swamp?" I laughed at my own joke.

"I am tied to you. I can sense when you are distressed. Or in this case, lost."

"But I thought you could only appear at night."

"Or in highly spiritual places," she corrected me. "I want you to meet someone." I yelped to Nut's amusement as I felt something touch me.

"Hello there," a man with green skin covered in vines and flora chuckled. "Welcome to my, well. This is all me actually," he extended his arms and motioned to everything around us.

"You're the spirit of the swamp, aren't you?" I said in understanding.

He nodded in response. "What gave it away? Was it the vines? The green skin?" He smiled.

"She's very smart, Berry." Nut cracked a smile underneath the eye roll.

"Pay no heed. My true name is Ashvattha, spirit of the great tree and keeper of the future. She just uses the name as a tease." Ashvattha leaned into my ear and whispered, "It's all she is between you and me." He cried out as Nut appeared next to him and smacked his head.

"Haha! The thrill of danger is lovely." He exclaimed.

"Hurry up and tell her what you wanted to say already, _Berry."_

"I have heard much about you young spirit-master."

"What do you mean…?"

"Ups. Spoilers," he squealed as he stomped his feet a bit. His action didn't even upset the roots or leaves on the floor in the slightest.

"With all the visions I dish out, the future is the least of them due to some mumby wumbo about the universe and gruff. So giving out two in one day is exciting. So please do excuse me for right now."

It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about. The only person I knew to see the future in the swamp was Aang. But putting two and two together I realized that I was the second person and the little girl was my future. Even further, she was my and someone else's future. Our daughter.

"Exciting isn't it?" Nutt commented.

Ashvattha continued ignoring Nut, "Yes, that child is your daughter, or at least your potential daughter. But the changes you are making to our world are creating entirely new possibilities that are making my life even more interesting. You and those from your world." What? Did Aiden manage to make his own ripples in here before his death? But how when he was confined to the North Pole during his whole life here?

"With all that in mind, if you continue your path the way you are, the future leading to her is more likely." I shuddered. Just one small mistake could result in her ceasing to exist.

 _Zuko_

I was torn, pacing up and down the cabin, my frustration kept growing. Part of me wanted to believe Azula, the other part of me, the part that spoke in Maddi's voice whispered _'didn't you yourself say Azula always lies? Besides, you know about the rebellion and they want you as Fire Lord. Not Ozai, not Azula, you._ ' Uncle Iroh noticed my troubles. He sighed and sat down, patting a spot on the floor across from him.

"If you keep walking you will wear through the floor nephew." I stopped and sat down but tapped my fingers instead on the wooden floor in a restless pattern. My uncle looked into my eyes intensely.

"Tell me what is bothering you." I opened my mouth then shut it quickly. I hadn't told my uncle everything about what occurred on Kyoshi Island and I hadn't told him anything of what had happened between Aang and I. I was in shock, suddenly realizing that I had been calling Aang by his name for a while. I sighed and began talking to uncle Iroh. I told him everything from Maddi's speech to Aang's beliefs and now to what Azula had said and my mistrust in my sister. On his part my uncle didn't say a word, he just listened, face impassive as I told him everything. It was so strange to have no secrets between us.

"It is your choice Zuko," He stated softly.

"What are we doing, uncle? Do we even have a plan for our immediate future?" I looked at my uncle, thinking things over. I doubted I was wrong about Azula, although I almost wished I was.

My thoughts wandered back to the North Pole. After I had captured Aang I had dragged him with me farther north. At the time I had convinced myself that I was trying to get away from Zhao and once he was gone I would leave, taking the avatar with me. Once again it hadn't worked. I had been defeated. However, instead of leaving me alone to die from the cold Aang and his friends had brought me with them. I had woken up during the journey back and carefully cut the ropes binding my wrists. I was careful to make sure I appeared to be asleep and after they had been distracted by Zhao I had slipped away, hiding in the shadows. I watched as they confronted Zhao over the spirit and my uncle's interference. Unlike everyone else though, I had seen Maddison entering the oasis. Curious I had changed my focus to her, watching as ran in front of Zhao. She didn't suffer the first attack. It was some other girl. But despite what she witnessed happen to the poor girl she remained in front of the spirits and took the second attack. She had attempted to sacrifice herself and I couldn't even believe that.

I wondered where she was now.

I shook myself. I needed to focus. There were three options for me. The first was trusting my sister, something which I knew was a bad choice. The second and third were both similar, I would leave with Uncle and we would seek out answers from either the Avatar or the rebellion. The choice should have been easy. I knew which one was the choice that needed to be taken but to do so would be to turn my back on my family.

Hadn't they already turned their backs on uncle and I anyway? Uncle Iroh looked at me, waiting for my decision. I could see the worry in his eyes. Turning I admitted softly in a voice I hadn't heard in years. It was the voice of the boy I had been before my mother left before my father started hating me.

"I'm confused Uncle." I flinched at how delicate the voice sounded, breakable and scared. In a few months, my entire life had been flung on its head and it was all because of that girl.

"I know Zuko, I know."

A few hours later I looked back at the small cabin which had been our temporary home. From now on we would have no home, no one but ourselves to rely on. Our packs were small, we had brought no more then what was absolutely necessary and despite my uncle's thoughts earlier he chose to leave the most behind. I didn't question him but it caused me to wonder. Had he not been serious when he had talked about the seashells or if he was upset but knew the necessity of leaving such things behind?

We hurried away, we needed to move quickly to escape my sister. Despite that, I stopped at a river. If we were to turn our backs on our family then we needed to do it properly. Slowly I dug into my pack for a small knife that I always carried with me. Slowly I held it out to my uncle, the earth kingdom lettering across the blade glittered in the light. Solemnly my uncle took the knife and cut off his topknot before passing it to me. I took it and repeated the gesture, cutting off the long hair in one slice. We watched in silence as the river bore our hair away, slowly breaking them apart until only long hairs were left, floating away downstream.

That night I looked up into the sky deep in thought. I didn't regret my choice I had made the right choice as hard as it had been. My family never cared for me. My father viewed me as a disappointment, my sister as an enemy, and my mom cared so little for me that she abandoned me. It hurt but not as much as I had believed it would. Images kept appearing in my mind. My uncle, smiling, the man who had been more like my father than my real father. Aang, smiling as he told me he thought we could be friends. Maddi telling me with complete sincerity that I was ten times better than my father. More faces appeared, faces who my mind conjured, men and women reaching out to me, each begging me to free them from my father's dictatorship. Boys and girls, younger than me with a sad age in their eyes, marching off to war under my father's command coming to stand with pride beside me. All of them turned to look at me at once and a haunting echo came to my ears. One repeated a thousand times in my dreams, a war cry that stayed with me that entire night.

"Long live Fire Lord Zuko! Long live Fire Lord Zuko!"

 _Long live Fire Lord Zuko._

 _Maddi_

After the spirits vanished back into their world I was able to find my way back to my friends. But not before causing a bit of misfortune to Sokka. With everyone reunited, the protector of the swamp, Hue, lead us to the heart. I wondered how they stumbled upon him. No one referenced his attack from the original TimeLine.

Appa and Momo followed us cementing my thoughts that things changed this time around even further. Before today I would've thought it would be wonderful. But meeting my future daughter was sowing seeds of doubt now. I didn't know what would cause her to be born. Affecting the future as less as I could or becoming a time bomb were both good causes.

"I reached enlightenment under this very tree. I hear it calling me, just as you did Avatar," Hue commented as we arrived earning a snort from Sokka.

"Yeah, it seems really chatty."

"Yeah," I replied with a sigh earning strange looks from my friends. Hue sat down and we followed his example.

"You see this entire swamp is just one gigantic tree. Branches spread and sink and take root and then spread some more into one great big organism like the entire world." Aang frowned, tilting his head sideways in thought.

"I see how the tree is one thing but the whole world?"

"Sure. Do you think you are any different from me? Or your friends? Or even this tree? If you listen hard you'll realize that everything breathes together, grows together. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. Like your friend's necklace says, everything is in harmony and all of us are connected, even the elements are connected. I blinked, looking down. I had forgotten to tuck my necklace back under my dress after my fall. Now it was where everyone could see. I blushed and held it up. The four elements glimmered in the half-light from the setting sun. Katara stared at it for a moment before shaking herself out of it. She turned back to Hue with a frown.

"Then what were our visions about?" Hue gave a small smile.

"The swamp shows us that we are all connected, that time is an illusion, that distance doesn't matter and that those we believe are out of our reach are never truly gone. We're still connected to them."

"But in my vision, I saw someone who I had never seen before? What does that mean?" Aang asked. I mentally facepalmed, even with me explaining what would happen here beforehand Aang was still a clueless child and Hue smiled knowingly.

"You're the avatar, you tell me." I could almost see the light bulb go off above Aang's head.

"If time is an illusion then it is someone I'm going to meet... My earthbending teacher!" He cried, shooting into the air, once again defying gravity. I cheered silently thankful that he finally understood. Hue just shrugged.

"Well I don't know about the specifics but if you say so."

The next day Aang was grinning like a maniac so excited to finally know who his earthbending teacher was as we left. Sokka was just happy to be out of the swamp with a full stomach. Katara, on the other hand, was looking at me thoughtfully.

"So when did you get that necklace?" She asked me after a moment of thought. I shifted uncomfortably at the stained memory.

"I got it at Kyoshi Island."

"That long!" Sokka yelped, shooting up to look at me incredulously. I nodded.

"Yep, I got it for really cheap. The same vendor who gave me this." I gestured at the earth kingdom dress I was wearing.

"Didn't you guys wonder where I got it?"

"I thought Suki gave it to you." I cringed at the sound of the name. Katara explained, "You started wearing it right after you started learning from the Kyoshi warriors after all." I paused, thinking of how they could have come to that conclusion. It made sense actually.

"I suppose. Anyway, no one wanted it so I bought it. I liked it because it kind of reminded me of what this world is going to be like after the war as well as our group."

"There's no fire nation people in our group." Sokka pointed out.

"Not yet," I agreed, "But eventually Aang is going to need a firebending teacher."

"Zuko right?" I spun around so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash at Aang's voice.

"WHAT!" Sokka shouted. I winced. This was a can of worms but I was glad to at least steer the conversation away from Kyoshi.

"That was my ear." I snapped, holding the throbbing body part.

"What do you mean Zuko is Aang's teacher? That crazy guy has been chasing us across the world!" Sokka so distressed I'd bet he would be able to firebend so suddenly in means to refuse what I was insinuating. Katara also seemed to be bothered but not to the extent that her brother was.

"Zuko isn't all bad, he freed me from Admiral Zhao after I got caught by him one time."

"Aang, when did Zhao catch you?" Katara asked. Aang looked nervous for a second before plunging into the entire story. I listened to the entire story. I was even shocked when Aang told us how Zuko hadn't attacked him, instead just telling him to leave.

"But if he such a good guy... why was he trying to capture you in the first place?" Katara asked.

"Zuko had his reasons," I stated softly, "I think that I'm the only person outside the royal court who knows the real reason why he is chasing Aang and how he got that scar," I replied softly. The sombre expression on my face seemed to be contagious as soon enough all my friends looked equally serious.

"So... what happened to him?" Sokka asked. I chewed my lip.

"I don't think I have the right to divulge it all... but Zuko never had a good relationship with his father. He was always considered the disappointment of the royal family. Anyway, Zuko was allowed into his father's war room one day and argued against using an entire battalion as bait. Anyway, it ended with Zuko being banished with a fresh scar over his eye." Katara's reaction was immediate as she clued in. I hadn't been quite as subtle as I thought I had been.

"His father... did that to him." I didn't reply but my silence was answer enough. We were quiet for a long time. I could see how sickened my friends were at what I had just revealed.

"Just... don't ever tell him we know. Let him tell us himself if he wants to." I insisted to them, "I probably shouldn't have told you any of that."

"But then why would he try to catch Aang, why was he so important."

"What better way to break a person then convince them that they deserved what they got and then send them out on a hopeless mission. A mission that after two and a half years turned out to not be a futile as it was thought to be."

"They told him to look for the avatar and if he caught me his honour would be restored," Aang stated, connecting the pieces of the many conversations he had with Zuko.

"That's sick." Katara snapped, blue eyes filled with anger and determination, "What sort of father is Ozai anyway? The spirits damn him." I blinked at Katara in surprise. She looked ready to tear right into the fire lord herself. I smiled.

"As I said, don't tell him, don't treat him as someone to be pitied. Treat him as you would one of us." The silence stretched on for a while. Finally, Aang broke the silence.

"So what can you tell me about my earthbending teacher?" 


	9. OctoberFest: First Vacation

Azula observed as everyone set up the equipment. She leaned on the metal machine relaxing as everyone else did the hard work in silence. They were going to be staying for a while, waiting for the Avatar to fly by would be a long one. So the camping gear made sense. No one wanted to be cooped up in a small area made of uncomfortable metal.

Aiden shot a glance at Azula and to his dismay, she still refused to help. But he said nothing. Just kept on helping the other two girls.

The campfire went up in flames as dusk fell. The warm toastiness of the Centrepiece in the camp blanketed everyone with comfort and shelter from the icy grasp of the winds. And for a little while, everyone just enjoyed the silence. Not even Azula made any remarks or belittling comments about anyone.

The moment, however, was soon broken as Azula spoke up. "So who's up for some dark tales around the campfire?" She smirked as she neared the flames. The way the light hit her actually managed to turn the shadows on her face into ominous weapons.

"I got one," Mai straightened her posture.

"Once upon a time a little kid went outdoors when he wasn't supposed to. His father found out and killed him for his disobedience. The end." Mai smiled smugly at Tye Lee Who was frowning.

"That isn't a nice story," she pouted.

"Not everything in life is nice."

"But you didn't even try. It was so short. And it wasn't scary either," Aiden chimed in. Mai just smiled at him. It was obvious she told it as a joke but the two kids couldn't figure it out.

"Anyone else want to go?" Azula raised her eyebrow as she looked at Tye Lee who was painfully bursting with excitement at the prospect of going next.

"I'll go next!" She shot up.

* * *

A young girl, around the age of 12, was busy practising her techniques for the circus. Tomorrow was a big day. The Firelord and his wife were going to be attending for a date. It was the wife's idea, said that they never got to do anything together anymore. And the Firelord wanted to please his wife. It was what he lived for. Her smile was all he wanted.Because of this, there was a lot of pressure on the circus master to have the show be perfect. All the animals were fed well and trained the day before. Performers practised their stunts and coordinated new spectacles. Everything was going to be perfect. Or so it seemed.

As the girl wrapped up her practice, she decided to go out on her own. Explore a bit and unwind. Several hours of doing the same thing puts that kind of stress on you.

She went out to the forest nearby. It touched the plains where the circus was set up. The same old forest that always loomed in the day. Been there for years since this specific circus was a permanent settlement, unlike their travelling cousins.

Now, everyone always warned the girl never to go adventuring in the forest. Myths and legends about angry spirits were well known about it. Most people that entered ended up lost and never came back out. The trees were bunched up together creating an eternal darkness that killed most of the plants on the floor.

But the young girl didn't care. She was brave. She was smart. She could trick any spirit if she wanted to. But cockiness always leads to trouble. If she was more careful she could've avoided the tragedy that was waiting for her.

"Miri," The trees whispered. They called to her. Deeper into the woods she went with each call. She didn't notice that time was flying past. Night fell and she kept going deeper and deeper into the forest. It seemed to be never-ending.

"Miri. Lay down. Get some rest." She obviously obeyed them. She knew that spirits were quick to anger. And she didn't want them to be mad.

The morning came. The Firelord and his wife attended the circus. Everything went by without a problem. Except that the finishing act was missing. Miri was missing. But the Firelord didn't know this. And as soon as he was gone, the entire circus set on a search. When they couldn't find her anywhere on the grounds, they knew where she went.

They found her shortly before night. Well, what was left of her anyway.

* * *

"Is that it?" Mai asked. She wasn't at all impressed. And Azula seemed bored as well. The only one showing some kind of interest was Aiden who was scrolling down strange words into a piece of parchment.

"Where was the horror? The thrill? You ended it before how she was found was described!"

"I thought it was good. I love thrillers. Gets your mind working," Aiden pointed.

"Thank you Aiden," Tye Lee smiled. "Besides, you didn't even try with your turn." She shot.

"Why don't you go next Aiden?" Azula yawned.

"I don't actually have any stories to tell. And the horror stories I know are too long for a single night, not to mention I'm terrible at telling them. And…"

"Fine. I'll go last. Just shut up," the Princess glared.

"Many cycles ago…"

* * *

A man was invited by his childhood friend to visit him. It was strange as they hadn't seen each other in decades. After she married off to a wealthy family, the man left the town and never looked back. But that was when he was young. Now that he was older he wanted to see what she was up to and maybe spark up the old friendship. And despite the years that had gone by, she was still as beautiful as ever.

But she clearly wasn't the same. It could've been the bags under her eyes or the distant gaze in her eyes. But he knew that something was amiss with her. You know what they say. The eyes are the windows to the soul. And these were wide open.

The old woman began to weep as the man asked what happened. He was unable to do anything to console her other than be a shoulder to lean on.

As the days went by he slowly learned about the tragedies that went on under that very roof he was a guest under. The illness that slowly immobilised the woman's lover had taken on a life of its own and seeped into the atmosphere tainting whoever breathed it.

Even the man who had only been there for a small amount of time soon started to have his sanity slip. He could hear noises from every corner. Movements in the shadows painted pictures of ghosts from his past. Soon he had enough. He confronted his old friend about what he believed were the spirits punishing those that inhabited the household.

Everything came to light there. She confessed that in a final struggle for power she poisoned her husband. Slowly and over time. But she didn't know that the poison was airborne too. The noxious effects of the poison had devastating effects on their psyche. Drove them mad. So mad that they actually set the mansion on fire one day and perished inside.

* * *

"That was amazing, Azula!" Tye Lee cheered.

"It was," Aiden agreed nodding his head. "It sounded a lot like an old tale from my world. Except that it was a man who housed his ill sister and sheltered her. And she appeared to die except that when he buried her, she was still alive. We call it the Fall of House of Usher."

"Sounds interesting. And better than our story. Gruesome," the princess chuckled.

"I hate to interrupt but the Avatar is here," Mai pointed up at the sky where a bison was slowly coming to land on the ground.

"But it's barely nighttime!" Tye Lee complained.


	10. Rumbling

Toph's town was vastly better than any of the others we've visited. Not only was it cleaner and smelled nicer, but it also seemed to have somewhat of advanced engineering. There was a sort of aqueduct system circulating the water everywhere. Into the market buildings and houses giving this world a much-needed plumbing system that I missed and loved. There were even faucets out in the streets for people to use publicly. So far, this was the only village/town to have all this. I was so used to carrying water by hand that I almost wished we could stay here permanently and forget about everything else. Selfish of me, I know.

"Excuse us. Do you…?"

"Hello? We're looking for…"

My friends were busy trying to ask around for the flying pig Aang told us about from his visions but so far everyone just ignored us and kept going right by. This didn't bother Aang though and everyone promptly forgot about what we were here for when Sokka laid eyes on a shop. I had no other choice but to follow as they went in. Nothing in the store was interesting to me. That was causing my mind to wander in boredom back to the vision of the little girl in the swamp from 2 days ago. It was hard not knowing who her father was.

Her main attire suggested I married into the water tribe. Maybe Sokka? Hard as it was for me to believe but the young boy was actually growing up to be a really great guy. He shed the masochistic masculinity he possessed when I first met him and he was getting stronger by the day with our sparing sessions. So it wouldn't be hard to believe if I did end up with him by series' end. And I kind of did screw up his canon relationship with Suki, so no contest there. Then again the lcothes could've been a family gift.

Maybe she was Fire Nation judging by the silky ribbons she had adorning her clothes and body. But they too could've been gifts. Maybe it was someone I would meet in the future and fall in love with. It happened all the time in real life. Complete strangers falling in love instead of ending up with childhood friends. That's how my parents ended up together. Or could it be that I gave myself to some stranger that would end up abandoning me like what happened to one of my friends? I shuddered at that thought. I would never be too stupid to let that happen.

"Pala? Pala?" Sokka shook me from my thoughts.

"What happened?" I asked still in a daze.

"Have you even been paying attention to what's happening?" Sokka scolded.

"Oh yeah. Yeah. You should definitely buy the bag," I answered absent-mindedly.

"No fair. You're cheating with your whole future knowledge madoodle," Sokka complained much to Aang and Momo's amusement.

Katara was the only one to worry about me. She pulled me aside and convinced me to tell her what was going through my mind.

"I don't blame you for thinking about her. I think if I had a vision about a future kid of mine, I'd be in your exact position right now," she confessed. I looked at her. Sometimes by how mature she behaved, I forgot how young she actually was. But the thought of a 15-year-old thinking about their future kids made me uncomfortable. She was still too young for this. Yet here she was helping fight a war that has been going on for over a century.

"Do you ever think of ending up with Aang?" I teased with a playful nudge.

"What? Me? Aang? I…"

"I've seen the way you look at the boy," I laughed. She blushed but decided to keep quiet about the subject. And I respected that. Her actions would tell me more than her words ever would anyway.

Once the bag was paid for we picked up where we left off, searching for Aang's teacher. After a while of searching, we ended up looking at a poster announcing the Rumble matches that I knew Toph was going to be in.

 _Zuko_

"I need some time," I told my Uncle. For a while now I had been planning on going off by myself. I felt guilty about leaving my uncle behind but I felt that I needed to do this. It was in my best interest.

"Of course, when can I expect you back?" I paused.

"I… I don't know… Uncle, I think… that we need to part ways for a while." I could see the sadness well up in his eyes as well as the quiet acceptance. I turned then stopped. Turning back I crossed the small distance of our campsite and pulled my uncle into a hug.

"I'll be back," I promised quietly as his strong arms wrapped around me tightly.

"Please do." He whispered back, his rough voice catching slightly.

My eyesight blurred and I nearly fell off Chong. The ostrich-horse made a little gasping noise and changed his gait. I looked up and sighed in relief. It was a town, a small one but a town nonetheless. My eyes were drawn to a small stall that was open nearby. Walking over I spoke to the merchant.

"I'd like some water, A bag of feed and a hot meal." I turned over the last of the coins I had. I had left the majority with Uncle. The merchant looked at the coins then up to me.

"I'm sorry, there's not enough for that hot meal, but I can get you two bags of feed and refill your water skin." I nodded. I'd have to find some other way to get food. My stomach rumbled in compliant. I passed the coins to the merchant, ignoring the hunger that gnawed at my stomach. There was a giggle beside me. Turning slightly I saw two boys holding an egg. I had a creeping suspicion I knew what was going on. I looked away. Less then a moment later there was a distinctive splat of an egg hitting someone's head.

"Hey!" The person yelped. I carefully kept my back to them, waiting.

"You, stranger, did you throw that egg."

"No," I replied, turning slowly. Five earth kingdom soldiers stood in front of me. One of them had egg in his hair.

"Did you see who did?" The tallest and the apparent leader asked.

"I'm afraid not," I replied blandly. Something told me that if I even thought of fighting back I would be in trouble. The leader, a tall man wearing a metal hat similar to my straw one narrowed his eyes.

"Well someone had to have thrown it."

"Perhaps a chicken flew overhead," I responded, doing my best to lack all emotion. One of the leader's men laughed but quickly fell silent at the angry looks from his companions. At that moment the merchant came back with two bags of feed and my water skin. I turned back only to find an earth kingdom solder taking the feed I had paid for.

"Thank you for your contribution to the army." He leered, taking off like a shot. The leader smirked.

I quickly unsheathed the swords I had tucked and hidden away inside of my clothing. The tip of my blades rested on the man's face creating a sight of fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right," I rasped.

He tossed me back the bags of feed he tried to steal from me.

"You don't know who you're messing with stranger. You better leave, because the price of staying is higher then you can afford." He tapped a large metal hammer that hung by his side as he shot me a glare. He turned then and left. I sheathed my swords back no longer needing them.

"They're supposed to protect us from the fire nation but they're little better than thugs," the shop clerk explained. I frowned, it wasn't uncommon what this town was dealing with. It also wasn't my problem. I turned to mount Chong and the head of a young boy appeared from behind the saddle.

"Thanks for not ratting me out," I grunted and mounted Chong, ignoring the kid. He, however, had other plans.

"Here, I can take you to my home. I heard that you wanted a hot meal. It's the least I can do." I didn't argue. The horse needed feeding as I did and I couldn't do it while being on the move. My stomach growled in agreement.

 _Sitting in the healing hut I watched the girl spread green paste over my uncle's swelling body. My stomach twisted at his disfigured form._

 _"You must not be from around here." She stated, "We know better not to touch the white jade, let alone make a tea and drink it." Uncle gave a sheepish smile._

 _"So what are your names strangers? I'm Song by the way." I froze and desperately searched for two names._

 _"I'm... Lee! And this is my uncle..." I trailed off. I had no idea what to name my uncle Iroh._

 _"...Mushi." Uncle Iroh leaned around Song and sent me a pointed glare. He wasn't pleased with the new name and was probably well aware of the fact that it came from his current appearance._

 _"Yes, my nephew was named after his father, so we just call him junior."_

 _"Junior and Mushi huh?" Song asked, turning to look at me. I quickly hid my furious expression behind a placid one._

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the loud cries of several animals. I had been lead to a farm by the boy, Lee. Turning to look at me he shrugged.

"No one can ever sneak up on us." He explained.

"No kidding," I responded, looking at the several dozen noisy animals. A rooster pig flew over and shrieked in protest.

Two people walked out of the wooden house. I assumed them to be Lee's parents. The woman looked tired, bags under her eyes, her shoulders slumped. She brightened slightly upon seeing her son. Beside her, a man, strong and resolute, came to stand beside her. Lee rushed up, grinning excitedly. As he over exaggerated my encounter with the 'soldiers' I found myself sinking back into a memory.

 _"I haven't seen my father in a long time," Song stated, looking down sadly._

 _"Neither have I," I admitted. The last time I had seen him was when his blazing fist was coming at my face._

 _"Oh, is he fighting in the war too?"_

 _"Yes," I replied. What else could I say? That he was a cruel monarch who burned his own son? When had I begun to think of my father as cruel? Disturbed by both the conversation and my thoughts I stood and walked out of the house. I sat down, leaning against the wood frame. A moment later Song joined me._

 _"I'm sorry. I didn't think. I guess it's a sensitive topic." She took a step forward and stopped then sat down beside me._

 _"The fire nation hurt me too." She pulled up a loose pant leg exposing a burn… running up her leg. It became fainter as it moved away from her ankle. I stared in shock. The burn around her ankle wasn't as old as mine, maybe a year old. Slowly my mind made the connections. The burn on her ankle to cripple her or slow her down. The age of her scar. Her loose fitting clothes… I felt a chill crawl down my spine. I had heard of fire nation soldiers taking earth kingdom women as conquests. Some of the stories were about girls much younger then Song. This was the first time I had seen the effects of what many soldiers thought as their right. It was the first time I had thought of those women as people. It left me unsettled._

 _"I'm sorry."_

"Does this stranger have a name?" I turned to look at Lee's parents.

"I'm…" I paused. What name could I use?

"Don't pry Sela, if he doesn't want to tell us his name then he doesn't have to. Anyone who can stand up to those bullies is welcome in our home."

 _Maddi_

"Aang. I think it would be best to avoid that place," I warned before Aang couldn't start getting any ideas. In the original timeline, they got into a lot of trouble by going to the match. It wasn't something I was too keen on enjoying. Especially since it involved Earthbending Fighters.

"Excuse me?" I turned to the man responsible for the poster. "Do you by any chance know where the BeiFong residence is?"

The man nodded. "Of course. They're the richest and most powerful family in our town. They'll be on the eastern side. You won't miss the mansion they have." After answering he went back to advertising his thing.

"Come on guys," my friends followed as I ran.

"Why couldn't we go to the Rumble match instead?" Sokka whined.

"Because Aang would've challenged his future earthbending teacher and then humiliated her by defeating her with a blast of air which should be considered cheating. And then we would've gotten off on the wrong foot with her instead of becoming friends," I might've been a bit too harsh in my explanation but I was really passionate about whether or not someone cheats and that was always a thing that bothered me in the Blind Bandit episode. Fortunately, Aang didn't seem to be offended.

"Sorry," Aang apologized sheepishly.

We were accepted into the BeiFong residence without any problems and were scheduled to have dinner with them immediately. I'm not sure how they knew or if they just always expected to have company. But a change in our diet was welcome. Especially for Aang since he's been having to deal with a little bit of meat in his diet.

"We are humbled to have the chance to be the host to the Avatar," Toph's father bowed.

Aang looked sheepish. His face grew red hot as he processed the importance one family was giving him. The poor kid looked like he needed help and I was more than ready to give it to him.

"Thank you for your hospitality Mr Bei Fong, we…"

"Please. Call me Lao." I nodded at his request.

"Lao, we came hoping for some shelter."

"But…" I glared at Aang willing him to shut up. Of course, I thought it was best not to tell my friends everything about what would happen here. So they wouldn't understand what I was doing. But I hoped they knew I was doing what was best for them.

"We came seeking shelter and to replenish our resources which are more than halfway down. If, that isn't too much to ask from your family," I lowered my head in respect as we waited for an answer.

"Of course not. We would be honoured to help the Avatar and his friends. In fact, you're welcome to stay for as long as you want. Rest up before you continue on your journey. And money won't be a problem either. We could spare plenty," Lao's wife looked at him with surprise.

I did too. I was not expecting him to be this enthusiastic to help us. I thought he would just give us a pouch of silver and give us just one day until we had to leave. But it seemed that his wife also didn't like the offers her husband was giving us since she was now silently glowering at her plate. I didn't want to cause much trouble here. Or be the cause of a separation.

"It's okay. We only need a day of rest and maybe a few…"

"Oh, at least a box of gold coins would be great for future supplies!" Sokka burst.

"Deal!"

At that moment Aang thought it was best to interrupt the conversation with a super sneeze. It caused Toph to be doused in her own soup much to her mother's horror.

"I'm so sorry," Aang grinned sheepishly.

"Please do cover your mouth next time," Master Yu advised from his spot beside Lao.

Mrs Beifong was not as tactful in her approach as Master Yu, preferring to be blunt about what she thought, "There will not be a next time! Tomorrow I want the Avatar to be gone!" She removed herself from the table and stormed out.

That went worse than I planned for. I forgot that Aang sneezed in the episode. I wasn't sure if it was by chance or in retaliation against Toph but if I remembered that it was going to happen I could've stopped it myself. I was stupid. Forgetful. Gah!

"Don't worry about my mom. She's just overprotective sometimes," Toph spoke for the first time in front of us. It was a surprise actually. Maybe it was because she was waiting to make her exit for the Rumble Competition.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be heading to the garden now. Without company, if you mind Master Yu," she didn't wait for an answer as she left. But Master Yu nodded anyway.

"I'll be right back," Aang assured as he left too. Sokka and Katara looked at me for guidance. I just shook my head. And got up.

"Do you know where the bathroom is?"

I followed Aang as he followed Toph. I know it was bad to eavesdrop, especially on someone who could see through the earth itself, but I just had to know what was going on. This was a massive stone I had just thrown into the pond. All the ripples could cause something to go out of place. Or it might redirect other ripples into bringing the pond back together. Stitching time back into the order it used to be in. Which of the two would be a reality I didn't know. I just knew that I wanted to be ready in case for anything. That meant knowing what Aang and Toph would be up to.

"I know that you're the blind bandit." Toph was directed away from Aang. But I knew that she didn't need to be looking directly at him. And I didn't need to be looking at her face to know that she was just waiting for Aang to explain himself.

"I saw you in a vision. You're supposed to be my Earthbending teacher. I just can't tell why. You've been quiet all evening. I only know that you're in a wrestling match but I don't know why. Especially since you're just a blind young girl. Younger than me!"

Before Aang could react, a row of stones erupted from the floor creating a trail all the way to Aang where one came up from the floor directly underneath him and launched him onto the roof where he disappeared from my sight. But I could tell that he managed to slow his fall with some airbending since I couldn't hear a thud come from the roof. And just a second later he flew down to the floor to start dodging every bit of rock and earth that was being sent at him.

"Oh, you're good. Light on your feet too. What do they call you out there other than the Avatar? The Fancy Dancer?" Toph asked as she finally hit Aang in the face with a boulder.

He wasted no time in getting back on his feet. Aang jumped high up into the air blinding Toph of her target. I watched as he landed lightly somewhere different. He tried his best to keep quiet as he tried to assess the situation he accidentally got himself into. Toph was just struggling to find where Aang was. Then Aang slipped up and pressed his foot strong on the floor giving away his position again.

"How do you know where I am!?" Aang cried out dodging another rock. Toph stopped it and brought back towards her before it could hit and break a window.

"You said I'm supposed to be your future Earthbending teacher. Well, this is my first lesson before accepting anything. Never underestimate your target," she sent another rock his way.

"Enough!" Aang knocked the rock out of the air with a gust of wind and pinned Toph to the ground herself with the same gust. "I don't want to fight. I just want to learn. Will you teach me? Or not?" Aang breathed hard. Being hit on the head with a rock and dodging so many attacks seemed to drain a lot of him.

"I don't know. Earthbending is all about asserting yourself and attacking. Both of which you just confessed to not have an interest in. Well at least with the attacking aspect. Am I right, princess? And Dad?" Her acknowledgement of me caught me off guard and her dad coming from out of nowhere startled me.

"You did all this?" Lao looked at the whole mess in shock.

In response, Toph commanded all the towers of stone and clumps of earth that she used to attack Aang to go back to their place. In just a few seconds it was as if the past few minutes never happened.

"All this time, I thought that you were just a frail and delicate little girl," I could see the fear in Lao's eyes. I knew where this was going. Lao had this speech the first time before telling Toph that he would need to double up on keeping her safe.

"She can do this and a lot more," I assured him. "She's going to change Earthbending some day in the future. I can confirm that. And she'll become a legend." I hoped that my tribute would help calm his fears and worries.

"I. I just don't know what to say." Lao fell to his knees and hugged his daughter. Everything was going much differently. Maybe it was because we didn't go to the tournament first. Whatever it was I was liking it. Our chances of getting out of here safely were increasing.

"I love you, dad. But I never told you about this exactly because of what you always thought of me."

Lao began to cry. I stood around uncomfortable while Aang tried his best to look away and give them their space that they needed.

"If you want to go. I will support you. But your mom won't be so keen on this idea," he adviced through tears.

"She doesn't have to know. At least not until I'm in the clear."

"Well if you have to do this. You're going to need some rest. And a lot of money just in case. And you have to leave in the morning at day break," he looked at Aang and me. We both nodded in understanding. We were really going to do this.

 _Zuko_

 _Chong helped me find myself when I needed him the most. Maybe he can help you too. I know a lost soul when I see one. I hope that one day you can find your own place in this world._

Two girls so far have helped me find out what to do with my life. Maddi made me question my actions in chasing down the Avatar. Song helped me decide to find myself by travelling. The two were so alike and yet so different. I still didn't know how I had this luck with girls. Having them as pivot points in my life.

Still, I was happier now than I was back when I was chasing Aang all over the world. And when I succeeded in finding out who I am, I would be able to fullfill my purpose and help Aang overthrow my father.

"What do you want, Gow?" Lee's father's question forced me to turn and look at what was happening.

The man from yesterday was riding an ostritch horse and had half a dozen men behind him. If he wanted to, he could attack us and win. But something told me that it wouldn't look good for him if he initiated the fight first. Especially not against a defensless man.

"I just came by thinking that you would like to know that your son's battalion was captured a few days ago. The man is probably dead by now." He turned to face his men, "You guys remember what the Fire Nation did to the last batch of soldiers right, Boys?!" They cheered encouraging their leader.

I moved over to Lee's father as he slid to his knees, heartbroken.

"Why don't you leave? You've done enough already," I ordered coldly.

"I see you're still here boy. Ignoring my warning," he sneered.

"The only person ignoring any sort of warning is you, Gow gow," I taunted.

His men laughed at my little jab. Gow frowned clearly unamused at my use of his name. Nevertheless, he snapped the reigns of his ostritch-horse and left followed by all the other men.

"How am I going to explain this to my family?" Lee's father cried. "Tell a mother that she lost a son. Never going to die before him. Or tell my son that he lost someone so important in his life? That the person he used to share a room with will never return and rest on the bed he spent all his life in?"

I couldn't do anything but stand next to the man as he wailed his own son's name. There was a small chance that his son could very well be alive. But that would be equally just as bad if not worse due to the horrors a war like this could inflict on its victims.

After he told his family the heartbreaking news, I was there to console Lee. I saw a lot of myself in him. That's why I wanted to protect him. That's why I knew how he was feeling. Because I lost my family too. I lost them long ago. And I only had one family left. One that I had to leave behind in order to find myself. I was regretting that decision now.

"Do you have to go? You can stay here. You could help us out around the farm. Live with us! At least until my brother comes. Becuase I know he will. He would never abaondon me. He promised me. That's why I haven't lost hope when my dad has," Lee sniffed.

I couldn't stay with them. I had to leave. I had somewhere to be.

"Look, Lee." I leaned over and handed Lee something I treasured greatly. My knife.

"Read it." I insisted gently. Lee pulled off the cover.

"Made in the earth kingdom."

"The other side." I corrected.

"Never give up without a fight."

I was a good deal away from the entire town when I heard someone hollering for me. I ignored the calls and kept going. There was no looking back now.

"Wait!" The clapping of an ostritch horse's feet grew so strong that I had no other choice than to pull Chong to a stop out of respect to the messenger.

"Stranger. I know you're leaving, but…" I turned and got the surprise of my life. The messenger, the man I was trying to avoid, was Lee's father. And he looked grief-stricken. His face was pale with fear. "Gow has my son. You have to help me," he pleaded.

I didn't need to hear anything else, I was already pushing Chong to his limits in speed in an effort to get to the town as fast as I could.

I managed to get there before the sun started to set. Gow was staring me down holding a knife to Lee's throat. The boy looked at me in fear silently pleading for me to save him. Whatever the kid did to upset the big man was enough for him to turn bloodthirsty.

"Let him go, Gow!" I ordered. "Let him go and I won't do anything to you. You can just go off to your little hole and hide away until morning when I'll be gone from the town!"

I jumped down from Chong and drew out my swords taking a stance in warning to him. I didn't want to use these swords on another soldier but this guy was going to take me to my limits.

"This little brat attacked me in front of the entire village!" He pointed to a small cut on his cheek that had one drop of blood sliding down his face.

He turned to one of his friends. Obviously to have him fight for the coward. But before I could say anything I tossed one of my swords straight at his shoulder. It sliced through his skin and stuck to a wooden post behind. Gow roared in pain letting go of Lee who broke into a sprint straight into his father's arms who had just arrived.

Two of Gow's goons rushed me trying to tackle me. But I was quick enough to dodge them and hit them hard in the head with the butt of my remaining sword and knocked them out. Now I was ready to face Gow, none of his other friends would intrude now. At least I hoped they wouldn't.

"I'll teach you not to mess with us!" Gow unsheathed a small knife from his belt and tackled me.

I wasn't able to get out of the way this time and had the wind knocked out of me. But even with the pain I managed to untangle myself from Gow's grasp. I jumped on a nearby barrel and over a fence into the street again. I could hear Gow struggle to climb over and follow me. But by the time he managed to complete that task I already had my sword out of the post I sent it into.

With both swords I cut through a barrel Gow had thrown at me. I dodged some close blows he tried to land on me and then calmly disarmed him.

"Who are you?" he asked in fear as I set my swords at the base of his neck.

"My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation and heir to the throne." Silence. Then finally someone broke the silence.

"Liar! I've heard of you, you're no price. You're an outcast. Your own father burnt your face." I spun. A confidence that I had never felt before spread through my body like fire.

"Does that make a difference! If I hadn't been banished would that make it better for you!?" the man who spoke out fell silent at my outburst. "For anyone who wants to know why I was banished, it was because I spoke out of turn against the Fire Lord! Why?! Because one of his generals was planning on using new Fire Nation Recruits as a distraction. They were going to be sent to the front lines as a sacrifice to distract their enemy! But I wouldn't stand for that! That's why I was banished!

"Why do you think my Father has a bounty on me?! Becuase he knows that I am capable of being a better leader than he ever could be! He knows that I could free this world of his crazy plan of world domination. I AM THE FUTURE TEACHER OF THE AVATAR! Any who dare question me step forth!"

No one stepped forward. Not Gao , not the man who pointed out my banishment, no one. I looked at Lee. He looked back at me in awe. I gave him a tight smile before mounting Chong and leaving. But not before throwing out something that I had been carrying with me for a long time. My Blue Spirit mask.


	11. Nuuttuittuq

_Nuuttuittuq_

I am the goddess of the North Star. I don't really associate with humans. It isn't my fault that they chose me as an instrument of their navigation. Yet other spirits think it was my choice. Just because I allow the mortals to basically worship me doesn't mean that I favour them. Though their worshipping does come with its advantages.

Before I encountered Maddison in the spirit world, I already knew there was something different coming. I felt it. Everyone felt it. The shift in history. Its tales being rewritten before our very eyes. And then I stumble on her. Just drifting through the spirit world collecting its energy.

That made it very easy for me to slip into her mind and see what she was. Who she was. And the surprise of a new language was enough to decide for me. I was going to protect her. See where her path would take her. My first task in that new job was for me to feed her the knowledge of the common tongue of the world. For a while it was interesting and fun to see which decisions she would make. And her distrust and selfishness to keep the future of this world in her hands only, it only spiced things up a lot more for me.

Then she visited the North Pole. My true home. There she met another person from her world. This one was handpicked by Lung himself. This boy was just like Maddison. He even knew parts of the immediate future. And a lot more of the distant future. Seeing him fall into Lung's hands even further pained me. He would bring so much pain to the one human I had grown to care for.

I wish I could tell her what was going on but Lung placed a protection on his pet. It prevented me from even thinking about him for too long.

But I was ready to help Maddison with whatever she needed. Whatever the cost. Fortunately, even if I died, I would just be reborn in a few generations.

"You've grown close to the special child, haven't you?"

"My Moon!" I bowed quickly as I took notice of La's presence. She was the reason for my very being after all. She deserved all my respect.

"Relax, Nuuttuittuq. Or shall I call you Nut now?" La asked with a teasing tone inciting a blush from me.

"Forgive me, my Moon. It's just—this human has fascinated me with the new change she brought to the ever so static world we observe." I directed my attention back to Maddison who was riding the flying bison belonging to the Avatar.

She looked exhausted as one would expect from someone who has spent so little time sleeping in order to escape a tireless enemy.

"I can see. And I do not blame you, Nuuttuittuq. My time spent observing her counterpart has left me wanting me more as well. But there are challenges coming in the future. Not just for Lung's chosen, but for Prithvi's as well."

I looked at her nearly howling my misdirected rage, "Prithvi's Chosen?! I'm the one who rescued her from the Spirit world. Guided her across the world. And he dares mark her as his?!"

"Calm yourself, Nuuttuittuq. You have not seen the things he's seen. He knows far more about the imminent threat than you do. And with Lung Bonding with a human host, we may very well be looking at a mirrored situation in order to balance everything out," she looked down upon me. Immediately I felt smaller than her. Recognising my outburst, I looked down in shame.

"I am confident though that you are going to be a pivotal part in her life though." La looked at me. I could feel sadness in her gaze. I couldn't say what it was for. I wasn't able to see the new future as clearly as the 5 old spirits.

"I can only hope."


	12. Halloween: ZalaZinZaka

With everything going on in the war, the safest place to be in is our homeland. But lately, even our home was becoming dangerous. A total of 20 soldiers had disappeared already within the few months we've been camping here. It gives me the chills. So many people with families just disappearing left and right in a place that was supposed to be safe. And we couldn't move from where we were. Our messenger hawk barely arrived yesterday after a week's journey. Transports would take a little bit longer so that was a plus. By week's end, we would no longer have to worry about this place and its dangers. But in the meantime, we were trapped with the Zala spirit.

"It's time to go chop down some wood. The sun is starting to slip down," one of my squad mates said. He stood up to stretch his legs, he's one of the several soldiers that have been trying to court me during the whole time.

"I'll go." I start to pull on my boots when he stopped me. "But with the Zala out there the men need to protect the women." He puffed out his chest making me uncomfortable as he put a hand on my shoulder, "So I should go out there instead of you," he smirked.

"Okay then." I relaxed my posture and let my boots fall back to the ground. Our friends muffled their snickers as they saw what I was doing. "Go chop us some wood and take this just in case," I dug out my dagger from my sleeping bag and tossed it up to him. "I hear that people who meet with Zala need all the help they can get. Though I can't imagine that Zala can be hurt with a knife. Oh, and did anyone forget to mention that the spirit only shows up during the full moon?"

"Ooo," the girl sitting across from me pointed to the sky, "Today is the full moon, Rezko."

"Be _careful_."

"Don't get eaten, man."

Rezko was visibly uneased by this.

I myself wasn't afraid of Zala. I didn't have anyone waiting for me back at home. And I was in the Fire Nation military to lay my life for my Nation.

"Uh… I _will_ go chop some firewood." As the last rays of sunlight slipped down the horizon, many other soldiers began to separate from their camps and head into the woods to chop down lumber. "Right now, right?" Rezko gulped. We all nodded.

Kimzo prodded him forward. We all watched entertained as he slowly shuffled out of our sight.

It was dark already when the other men and women from surrounding camps came back. Those camps with firebenders held a light source to help them. My friends and I continued talking as permanent fires came to life around us. Though their light could be seen for miles, their illuminating glows couldn't reach us leaving us in the darkness. We still couldn't see Rezko returning.

"I think I might've scared him off. Sorry about that guys," I caused an eruption of laughter from my team. But I could tell it was just nervous laughter. For all we knew, Rezko could be the next victim of Zala.

A sudden scream brought us to our feet somewhat confirming our fears. Some of the other camps also heard and a few minutes after the initial scream we were already organized ourselves into several rescue parties and faced the darkness of the woods.

As we went in we were hearing rapid breath and leaves rustling as if someone was running. A soldier burst out of the shadows startling us. The light of the full moon made him look ghastly and pale.

"Help me," No one moved to help. We couldn't. We were all frozen in fear as shining predator eyes looked at us from the black trees behind him. Bony hands came out into the light as the soldier floated up into the air. A quick flick of the skeletal wrist and he disappeared into the darkness again along with the spirit that took him.

We gave chase but eventually lost track. "Okay troops! We'll have to split up into 3 groups and scour the area!" 3 groups, that would mean 14 soldiers for each. The spirit would still have trouble facing us all this way. At least I hoped it would.

We searched for a long hour. We refused to give up on finding our friends. Transport could arrive by morning and if they remained disappeared, our friends would be lost forever. I shook just by thinking about that outcome. As painful as Rezko was, thinking about his family receiving the news that he went MIA on our homeland made me queasy.

"Over here!" we gathered around the caller. She was in front of the mouth of a cave. We looked at each other expecting someone to go in first. But no one did, even as a second piercing scream blasted through our spines. I wish I could say that after a while I was the first one to step forward, but my remaining courage failed me.

Instead, it was someone else who stepped forward. A soldier I didn't recognize. The spirits bless his soul. I was the 5th person to follow him into the dark of the cave. The inside was surprisingly warm but very damp. It was hard for me and several other benders to keep our flames alive in our hands to light up the path. Not to mention that the atmosphere was making us sweat so much.

Tentacles of water suddenly stretched from the darkness latching onto people to drag them to their doom. We acted fast, blasting the water into vapour but it still managed to bring our numbers down by 2. However, we now knew this wasn't a spirit. Spirits couldn't bend elements. We were dealing with a waterbender. Maybe one of the escaped prisoners of the north.

"We know you aren't Zala! Show yourself, Raindrop!" everyone braced themselves. While we finally knew it wasn't a spirit taking our men. The waterbender still managed to take 20 soldiers.

"You got guts to call to him, girl," one of the commanders praised me.

I was confused. I didn't remember saying that outloud. I thought someone else called to the waterbender. My panic was starting to mess with my head.

"If not me then who else?" I pulled on a straight face as we started walking.

We arrived at the centre of the cave. There was an open roof letting the stars and moonlight in. Most of the disappearances taking place during the full moon was starting to make sense now. It was the only time of the month when waterbenders were at their full power.

"You coal heads have taken so many people's homes away from them. Yet you complain when just a few of _your_ people disappear. It's truly pathetic," the voice dripping with poison as it came from all around us. "It's time someone taught you all a lesson!" The voice echoed as we looked at dozens of dried up corpses. We finally started to see what occupied the walls, and it was terrifying. All of the soldiers that disappeared lined up the walls chained to them with metal and ice. It was something out of a horror tale.

Something stabbed my leg causing me to scream out in pain.

"I'm sorry. I swear I'm not in control," I turned around to see another woman with a sword in my leg. Her eyes were opened wide and her whole body shook uncontrollably with each movement she made. Her veins throbbed and looked thick and black.

Her sword slid out of my leg allowing me to fall weakly to the ground. She raised it high up above her head. Her body convulsed as she brought it down hard in a strike. But before it could touch me, she was tackled by other soldiers to the ground.

"You will tear each other apart!" Other soldiers began to attack just like the woman. My leg was stiff from the injury preventing me from helping out like I wanted.

I cried out as my limbs stiffened. Without telling it to, my body slowly picked itself up and took out one of the knives in my belt. I could feel the blood in my body move slowly as it stayed in my limbs. I was getting light headed. The blood wasn't circulating in my body anymore. The waterbender was bending our blood. That's how he was controlling our actions.

My vision was fuzzy. The noise of battle sounded faraway. I wasn't attacking anyone with my bending though. Just knives and weapons. It seemed like the waterbender couldn't control our bending at least. That would make it easier for my friends to stop me before I seriously hurt someone.

Our headcount was halved by the time the control wore off. Clouds blocked the moon in the sky. It seemed to be the direct source of blood bending. I don't know if it was because he no longer had control over us or because he was bored or cocky, but the waterbender came out of the shadows and started attacking us himself. I dragged myself out of the way and against the cave walls in an attempt to rest up.

I watched as he killed my people with a creepy smile. And the moment the moon was uncovered, he started to pull all the water and blood from Azuna. I couldn't pull my gaze away as her body shrivelled up while a pink ball of liquid grew.

Spears jetted out of it piercing one of us in the head while the rest were injured in other places. I was also impaled by one of them. In my arm.

I was too pumped to feel the searing pain in my leg anymore and my exhaustion was no longer a problem. The moment he began to dehydrate another person, I sprinted out at him and tackled him to the floor. Without giving it another thought I created a large blast of fire directed to a couple of boulders above the opening trying to cause them to fall on us. I gripped him tightly as he tried to escape in panic.

The weight of the boulders was the last thing I felt as we were buried alive.

* * *

"In all my years of service, I have never seen anything like this," a medic commented at the sight of the mummified bodies being uncovered from the rubble. This person was hired from the Earth Nation. He helped out the Firebenders identify the bodies buried in the mess.

It was a few weeks after the attack on the camped Fire Nation soldiers and they were finally receiving transports. But as they did, the commanding officers were informed of what had happened in the cave by the survivors.

"This one looks like she died holding onto something," the medic made his way over to the soldier that had called.

Indeed, the body did look like she was holding onto something in her last moments. Her arms were frozen in a hug with nothing in between.

"Do we know what caused this in the first place?" The medic asked.

"No sir. The survivors have been mumbling about some spirit named Zala. But all of the causes of death here don't look like anything a spirit could do. The other troops were elsewhere finally searching for the missing. That is all I know from the investigation. Should all the other troops finally be sent home?"

"Yes. It sounds like they've been through a lot," the medic stood up to go to another corpse. "But keep a team here. We still need a full report."

The medic kept inspecting everything unaware of the stream of crimson water creeping up on him.


	13. Betrayal

_Maddi_

Leaving the town was much easier than I expected from watching the show. We travelled for a while trying to restock on our supplies using the small coffer of gold coins that Lao gifted to us on the day we left.

Our second day with Toph took a more interesting turn though. As we were stopping for dinner and sleep we noticed that Appa was starting to shed. Aang explained it away as part of a Bison's yearly life cycle. Every spring a Bison would shed its outer layer of fur while a new one would grow in. Sometimes a Bison would completely shed until it was bald before growing in its replacement fur, but that was a rare occurrence. And luckily it was also a birth trait, one that Appa didn't seem to inherit.

"Wow! You guys chose a great campsite. The grass is so soft here!" Toph was the first of us to launch herself from Appa onto the ground. Despite her apparent handicap, Toph was still very much of a thrill seeker and quite literally preferred to jump into things before she ' _looked_ '.

"Actually that's bison fur," Sokka corrected. "Spring means shedding," he puckered his lips into that resembling the way a professor would speak. I laughed at his little action to his delight.

"Oh gross," Katara muttered trying to keep the hair off her. Good luck, I found myself thinking, anyone who was a pet owner knew just how hopeless that particular battle was.

While Sokka, Aang and Toph played in the fur and Katara was distracted by their antics, I focused on setting up camp. It was a duty I had become well antiquated with. Normally we would all work together but tonight we needed to have some extra time in bed. Katara was the first to notice and quickly she, Sokka and Aang joined me. Toph didn't seem to care and instead settled on the idea of exploring the area and getting a sense of the place. In my opinion that was actually a lot more helpful of her. Having someone memorize the layout of a place could come in handy. But apparently, Katara didn't seem to think the same.

"Hey, Toph-"

"Katara, can you pass the bowls?" I quickly interjected. Of course, Katara wasn't going to let go of something once she had seen fit to change it.

"Toph, can you get Maddi the bowls?"

"Never mind!" I called, spooning out the soup into the wooden bowls quickly. After a moment I called everyone.

"Dinners ready!" I wasn't all that surprised that Toph didn't join us for dinner. I was well aware that her father packed her a lunch big enough to last her a few weeks at most. Of course, I hadn't discovered that fact myself. I had a little help from Sokka who seemed to always know everything that was going on in our little group. I'm not sure how he found out though since it seemed that for someone who was completely blind, Toph knew exactly how to keep stuff invisible from everyone.

We headed to bed early upon my insistence. My friends didn't argue though Toph looked disgusted. Katara did too actually, although I suspected it was for other reasons.

I was woken up by a rustling of leaves. Everyone else was asleep. I was about to join them again too when I heard the rustling again. Slowly, I picked myself out of my sleeping bag to investigate the noise.

The rustling led me out to the edge of our camp where the trees were lining us. I couldn't see a thing in the dark. The moon itself was covered by dark clouds right now so I was only being guided by my sense of sound.

The clouds suddenly parted though. Silvery light from the moon was cast to the part where I was hearing the noises from and illuminated something in the trees. I looked at it for a while confused at what it was. But once I caught it move I knew exactly what it was. A blade.

"Everyone get up!" I screamed before a large knife came flying out of the tree and digging into the floor completely missing me in the process. Whoever was behind that throw was a bad shot.

"What's going on?" Sokka moaned.

"We're under attack!" I yelled.

Someone dropped from the tree where the rustling came from. I couldn't see his face or what he looked like. A hooded robe kept his identity a secret. The added advantage of the moon being covered by clouds, also threw even more shadows to layer the existing ones that concealed the contents of his face underneath the hood. I didn't like it. He looked creepy.

Katara pulled water out of the stream we landed beside and got ready to attack. Sokka too had his club out and held it with both hands as he struggled to stay awake. Aang himself had nothing but his staff readying himself to perform his usual defensive manoeuvres. And after getting my Kyoshi fans, I positioned myself next to the others. The only one missing was Toph who was still in her own tent she conjured up with Earthbending.

"You're outnumbered are you sure you want to do this?" My warning might've been effective but Aang's yawn kind of broke the illusion of power I had set behind it.

"GUYS!" Toph yelled as the front wall of her tent slammed to the floor. Better late than never I thought.

"What is it Toph?" Katara asked blearily refusing to take her eyes off the hooded person.

"Something's coming," Toph replied, hand pressed against the ground to get a better reading on the vibrations.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

A switch flicked in my exhausted brain. I remembered what episode this was. The Chase. We wouldn't be getting any sleep today or tomorrow because of Azula and her tank. And now we had to deal with this mysterious person. This was just great!

"It's like an avalanche, but not like an avalanche," Toph added, confusion filling her voice.

"Here's a hint, we need to move," I added. I tossed my sleeping bag into Appa's saddle. Katara came to help while Toph took her place with my friends to keep the person away from us. In just a few minutes we were all packed and on Appa's back heading away from the hooded figure and the distant tank without a problem.

"What is it?" Katara asked me, turning to look at me in worry. She knew there was something wrong. But I couldn't decide whether to tell them about the following series of events.

"Why would she know? What? Do you need her to be your mommy?" Toph mocked. Katara spun back, anger Flaring in her eyes. It suddenly occurred to me that we still haven't told Toph about my situation.

"No, are you familiar with spirit guides? Well, that's sort of my job to Aang but basically, I sometimes know things no one else does. I'll explain it to you in more detail later." I stated. Toph wrinkled her nose but didn't argue.

"So who is it?" Sokka interjected, "Zuko?" I shook my head.

"Zuko was lucky to get a boat, they wouldn't give him an advanced machine such as this." I pointed out.

"Who's Zuko?" Toph asked.

"Bratty, entitled kid with a burn scar. ALways threw tantrums and he chased us around the world for a while." Sokka replied offhand, before focusing again on me.

"So if it isn't Zuko who is it?" To my surprise Katara was the one who figured it out.

"It's those girls from Omashu." I nodded, feeling ready to go back to sleep. Remembering last second that Toph had no idea what was going on I clarified.

"Yes. Azula, Princess of the fire nation and Zuko's little sister, her playmate, Ty Lee, and Zuko's old fiancé, Mai." I explained, leaning back and closing my eyes.

I snapped awake when I began to feel Appa start to lose altitude.

"What's happening?" I asked immediately.

"We're going to rest here for a while," Aang replied.

No. If we did then we would only be getting a wink of shut eye. We need to go further I decided.

"We need to keep going, this distance will be like a skip over a river for that thing," I warned.

Everyone else was asleep. Toph, Sokka, and Katara. Even I was asleep before I felt the drop in height. So I knew that this was going to be a difficult task for Aang, so I decided to stay away with him. At least for a while. And after a solid hour of flying, I allowed Aang to let Appa get some rest.

We landed in a clearing inside of a forest. At least that way we would be getting a heads up by the tank knocking down trees if it decided to follow us in here.

I hadn't been able to get more than 3 hours of sleep before I was woken up by the sounds of arguing. Of course, it was Katara and Toph.

"ENOUGH!" I bellowed startling even myself.

An awkward silence blanketed us all. Though Momo and Appa slept through it.

"Thank you, Pala. Finally some peace and…" I didn't let Sokka put his head down on the pillow before I continued scolding the two girls.

"You two are acting like children. Go to sleep, you can fight when the sun's out." This time neither Toph nor Katara backed down.

"Who died and made you queen?" Toph snapped, "you think you're so superior-"

"Don't bother trying to explain to her." Katara snapped at me, "she doesn't know what the word respect means." Sokka and Aang were trying to keep out of it but I could see that the battle was wearing on their nerves as well.

"What!? Listen here sugar queen," Toph snarled stepping forward. She froze, suddenly tensing up. I too became alert and looked up at the tree tops. Black smoke hung like a veil over the bright starry sky. "It's not just the tank. There's someone running through the trees too. I can feel his heartbeat. He's tired, but still strong."

"Aww you've got to be kidding me." Sokka muttered. Once again we climbed onto a sleeping Appa, woke the bison and headed off, away from the tank and the mysterious stranger following us. Unlike us all, Appa could sleep through almost anything.

We landed in a place that was significantly higher in altitude, halfway up the side of a rocky mountain.

"Finally. Don't bother setting up. Go to sleep." Sokka gasped, tossing his sleeping bag to the ground and collapsing upon it. He was asleep in an instant. Aang was right behind him followed by Appa.

"That's okay Toph wasn't going to help anyway." Katara snapped, using her bedroll as a pillow.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't realize baby still needed to be tucked into bed." Toph retorted. I closed my eyes and laid still in my sleeping bag. I was going to be the stronger, better person and just ignore it. The banter continued for a little while before it started to worsen.

"WILL YOU PLEASE JUST SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU! We are trying, to sleep!" I cried. "If you don't want to sleep then that's fine. Just take it out!"

That's when Momo started screeching. I jerked my head to the drop of the cliff we were on. I hadn't been able to sleep at all with the talking and now once again they had found us.

"Okay that's it, this time we stay to fight." I didn't argue. I was ready to drop where I stood. The machine, some sort of cross between a tank and steamroller came to a stop. A cabin opened and Azula was revealed alongside Ty Lee and Mai. I didn't know what type of reptiles they were riding not that I cared that much. And we all somehow fit on the platform without needing to worry about the ledge.

"We can take them, three on three." Toph crowed.

"Hey!" Sokka and I cried in tandem.

"Sorry I was only counting benders." Toph replied flippantly. I had the sneaking suspicion that she wasn't really that sorry.

"Newsflash, Sokka and eye can both fight. Probably even better than you in a non-bending battle," I hissed, eyes narrowed at the blind girl, "but if you're only counting benders it's one on three."

"Fine then, three in five." Toph corrected. My lip curled into a snarl at her response. I had the distinct image of tearing her thick hair out in chunks. If you haven't noticed, sleep deprivation tends to bring out the worst aspects in me.

Azula wasn't the type to just sit around waiting. In a moment she and her 'friends' had kicked their lizards into movement. I watched in horror as the giant lizards climbed right over Toph's rocks. My friends pulled a hasty retreat, Toph creating a giant wall to slow down those chasing us. It was to high and steep for the lizards to climb but Azula fixed that with a bolt of blue lightning. The earth exploded with a crack that seemed to shake the air around us. Appa was already in the air and out of range by the time the smoke cleared.

I must have fallen asleep after that because the next thing I knew I was falling. I woke up with a panicked scream. Reaching out I grabbed Toph, holding on to her and the saddle. Aang was desperately trying to wake up Appa who had fallen asleep while flying. Some small corner of my mind muttered something about falling asleep while driving but I ignored it, to focused on not letting the small blind girl fly away. Toph of course had a strong grip on the saddle as well. All my friends were screaming but I felt as though something had lodged in my throat constricting my ability to make a noise. Aang must have woken Appa up because our decent was suddenly corrected slightly, becoming less steep. That didn't stop us from hitting the treeline and then the ground, leaving a deep gouge in the earth.

We scrambled off the bison and hit the earth ourselves. Aang looked up at us, purple bags dark against his pale skin.

"Appa's exhausted."

"Then we should follow Appa's example and go to sleep." Sokka pointed out, "We've put enough distance between us and those girls for now." He promptly fell into his sleeping bag and did just that.

"Of course we could have gotten some more sleep if Toph didn't have so many issues." I could feel the earth shake as Toph practically screeched.

"What?!"

"Shut up both of you." I muttered, trying to hide my head under my pillow. Aang, ever the peacekeeper stepped forward.

"Alright, everyone's exhausted. Let's just get some rest."

"No! I want to hear what Katara has to say. You think I have issues?"

"Please shut up." I muttered again. Sokka snored beside me. Lucky guy.

"I'm just saying, if you helped out sooner we could have set up camp earlier-" I tensed. That was it.

"SHut Up! SHUUUUUUUT UP! Just shut up! Shut up! SHut up! Shut up! ENough is EnOuGH! If you both don't want to sleep it's fine. I'll repeat again. IF YOU BOTH DON'T WANT TO SLEEP IT's FINE! But the rest of us do want to sleep!" I headed to Katara and got her wrist into a bone breaking grip.

I dragged her all the way to one side of the clearing and forced her onto her butt.

"You stay right here. And don't move." Then turning to Toph I ordered, "And you just make your stone tent and get some sleep!

The sudden smell of smoke alerted us of the ambush, but it was too late. By the time we were all on Appa ready to take off a huge fireball came towards us nearly demolishing us but Toph was able to bend a stone roof to protect us. We couldn't fly up and I was catching glimpses of armour far off in the trees. We were surrounded. I racked my head trying to remember what episode this was. But I couldn't remember this happening at all in the show. What was going on?

"What's going on Pala?" Toph seemed to have the same question as me. If she was asking me that then surely the others wouldn't be short behind. But for once I didn't know what was happening.

"I'm not sure. This never occurred in the legends. I'm going blindly here," Toph scoffed at my choice of words. "Yeah cause that's a bad thing."

"In this occasion it is," I responded flatly.

"Surrender the Avatar now and the rest of you get to go free."

"That voice," Katara gasped. I recognized it too. Voices in this world were a bit more different than the show's but still similar and I knew who it was. Azula, only her words could send a chill down my spine. The crazy Princess was leading an attack on us because she wanted Aang. Did my presence in Omashu make her take different decisions? Was it because I knew the movements of all her friends?

"We'll never give Aang up!" Sokka sprinted at Azula only to be shocked with lightning. He was sent flying back into us. He was hurt but alive. She could've killed him with an even stronger blast but she chose not to. I don't know what her game was but with this action she was now definitely unpredictable and that made her 10 times more dangerous.

"Please, I've defeated some of the strongest fire benders in my nation, I even defeated that ridiculous Earth Kingdom General that wanted to weaponize the Avatar State and came out of the Palace without a scratch as his followers tried to exact revenge. What makes you think that a non-bender can challenge the likes of me?" Azula cackled as her army of soldiers finally made it out of the trees and encircled us.

"We can take you," Toph boasted. "No earthbender is stronger than me."

"And I'm a waterbending Master," Katara chimed in.

I looked at Aang as he moved in front of us. His staff was poised ready to defend us as he spoke, "And I'm the Avatar, I've already mastered Air and Water. I'm not sure how you managed to shoot my friend with electricity," he looked at me as I was trying to put Sokka in Appa's protection, "But I don't think I need more than two elements to defeat a princess."

Azula's eyes narrowed. "You have just sealed your fates." The air crackled with static as she built up a charge. It was unleashed directly at us but Aang was able to absorb it into his staff as he buried it into the ground.

"Looks like she was just grounded," Sokka uttered weakly. "I can still fight, protect Aang."

"No. You can't," I forced him to start climbing Appa. He looked back at me, "Don't let them get to Aang. Not only can he stop the war, but he's family too. Just like you." He slid back down and gave me an unexpected hug.

I was able to heave Sokka onto Appa before Azula gave her command of attack. In a matter of minutes our camp had been levelled and been turned into an arena. The movements of my fan were guided by memory alone as I tried to keep myself and my animal friends protected. Each plume of fire was deflected by my fans. I only went in to incapacitate the non-benders. I didn't want to kill anyone and I wasn't that prepared to face off against users of fire. My arrows wouldn't be of use in here either. This was a close combat situation and unless I had a bending ability like Aang, Katara, or Toph it would be staying like that. It was in times like these when I wish I had accepted one of the elemental gifts that the spirits offered me.

Toph fought by herself. She flung boulders bigger than her at clusters of soldiers crushing them. Fissures were created in the earth with just a tap of her feet. I wasn't sure how but she even managed to dodge the bursts of flames that were directed at her.

Aang and Katara were the only ones working as a team. Aang blasted soldiers with his air while Katara moved in with her water and froze their torsos to immobilize them. Then when the waves of soldiers were starting to get too much they switched from long ranged attacks to short range. Katara formed tentacles of water that helped her throw people around while Aang disoriented soldiers with his weaving and dodging.

But in the end it was all too much for us. One of the soldiers managed to knock me off my feet and hold me down. I could feel the weight of the person against my body. I felt weak and vulnerable. I tried to pick my head up but had it slammed back onto the floor causing a headache to throb to life. "Appa! Get out of here! Protect Sokka and Mo—" a hand clasped against my mouth stopping me from finishing my order.

After a few seconds of struggling I heard Appa roar and spears snap in half as a gust of wind washed over everyone.

Thank you for listening to me, Appa. We can't win this fight today, it caught us by surprise and Azula was ruthless. No such thing as overkill for her. She wore us down until we screwed up. Sokka was the first to go down but he was the only one to escape. Thanks to Appa he would be given a chance to save us. It was a relief, had he not been knocked out by that weak shock or had he been _killed!_ then we wouldn't have even the slimmest chance at escaping.

"Find that blind girl! And don't underestimate her this time!" Azula's growl gave me another gift of relief. Toph escaped too. I didn't know how but the more of us that weren't captured the better.

Blunt force hit me in the head and sent me into the darkness.

 _Katara_

I woke up in chains on the floor. I was in a cold metal room behind a metal door. My hands were still able to move but it didn't do me any good. Azula and her croons took my water container so I wouldn't be able to bend my way out of here. I began trying to loosen the chains maybe even break them when I got a chill run down my spine.

" _Katara._ " Tears stunt my eyes as I recognised the voice. I knew who it belonged to even if I haven't heard it in years.

"Mom." She was standing in front of the door. She looked just like she had the day she was taken from me.

" _My dear Katara, I missed you so much_." I choked back the tears as I struggled against the chains trying to reach her. In the end I was on my knees sobbing in front of her.

"Mom. I've missed you more than I can say."

" _I know honey. But you are strong. You have always been there for your brother protecting him from the dangers of the world like I would have tried._ " I took solace in her praise. I wanted this to be true so much. I wanted her to be real and right here. " _Listen. There is something coming and you have to do everything to protect your brother. He…"_

"Nooo!" She vanished before she could finish leaving me empty and desperate for just seeing her.

"You can make her real you know." The voice came from outside and echoed in my chamber.

"Who are you?" I rasped.

"Just a man with the power to give you what you want." Eyes appeared in the slit. They were narrow, sharp and had a deadly yellow glow to them. Fire Nation. It had to be. No one had come to rescue me.

"I don't make deals with Fire Nation scum," I spit.

"Good thing I'm not _Fire Nation_." The slit scraped shut forcing a metallic screech into the air. I recognised the man standing behind the door when it creaked open. He was the waterbending prodigy Master Pakku praised so much, Zizaku.

"You're Master Pakku's student. Everyone thought you were dead or captured," my eyes widened. Could he have escaped? Was he here to free me? What happened to his eyes? My mind wasn't making sense right now.

"They were right. But I'm where I belong now."

"What do you mean?" His words confused me. I wasn't following. "Uh, do you mind?" I raised my cuffed hands.

He came to me and produced a key from one of his pockets. I was paying attention to what he was wearing now. It. Was a fire nation robe with their clothes underneath. Was he surviving by tricking them into thinking he was one of them? It suddenly clicked in when I noticed my necklace in one of his pockets. He was there in the ambush. He captured us. Fury filled me.

"I would think that you'd be thirsty so I brought some…" the moment he brought the cup of water in I controlled it.

A quick movement of my hands had the water flying through the air turning into an icicle to stab him. Before I could though he grabbed me and his eyes started to glow. The water fell to the floor and wouldn't respond to me anymore.

 _Aiden_

Katara looked at me with anger in her eyes. I understood where she was coming from. The fire nation took her mother. Just like Maddi took my Shinya. This is what made her perfect. She and I understood each other. If only I could just convince her to join me. Luckily I knew how protective she was of her family and I could use that to my advantage.

 _Are you sure we can bring back people from the dead._ It was more of a demand than a question I directed at Lung. I didn't want this to backfire horribly in my face.

 _Did I not bring her soul out for the girl to speak with?_ After that short exchange he vanished from my peripheral vision. I guess that was as much of an answer as I was going to get from the spirit.

"I don't want your dead body. I want you," I looked at the young girl. She looked older than Azula but I knew that they were roughly the same age, 15 going onto 16. For some reason the characters were older here than they had been on the show.

"Let me guess. You're 15? The Avatar, Aang? Is perhaps 12? Somewhere along those lines?" I turned my back to her. I could feel her glare at me. It must suck. Have someone be very confident that you weren't as much of a threat to them that they would turn their back on you.

"I'm 16. My birthday was last week. And Aang's 13." So they were actually much older than I thought. Aang only had a year's difference, same with Azula. But Katara was 2 years older than she should be. Made me wonder about the others.

"How did you do that? How did you take my bending?" She demanded on the verge of tears.

"I'm an energy bender. Back at the North Pole I was only able to bend water because the spirits allowed me to. But when it came time for me to choose my permanent ability to travel the world I went with Air." I demonstrated with a gust of wind. "That came with an extra perk thanks to the spirit wanting to bond with me. I don't really have a set skill anymore. In order to bend anything other than air, I need to take someone's abilities away. Like yours." I manipulated the water Katara dropped on the floor and lead all the droplets back into the cup.

"Where's Aang. What did you do to him." I looked at her. My show really didn't phase her. She still kept glaring at me. I don't know what she was trying to accomplish with that but it really didn't bother me.

"He's safe. We don't want to go around on another chase for him again. With the whole reincarnation cycle and all. I know you're stalling. And that's good. Shows you have faith in your friends. But they won't get here. Not in time anyway. So time to make a decision. I can give you what you want. No harm will come to your brother or _father_." Yep that got her. Katara's eyes softened from hatred and went straight to sadness with the mention of her dad. "And I can also bring back your mother." I summoned the image of her mom to dance around us to strengthen my promise. "I've made friends with spirits. They can help us get all of this. In return I want your loyalty."

 _Katara_

"He's safe." Aang was safe. That's all that mattered right now. Zizaku's words were starting to get to me. The toll of stress was getting to me. I just wanted to lie down and sleep right now.

"I know you're stalling. And that's good. Shows you have faith I your friends." I wasn't really listening to him anymore. I didn't care enough to. And the exhaustion of the battle and being captured was catching up to me.

"I can give you what you want." I doubt it. He was just bluffing. No one can really bring back people from the dead. Once they were gone it stayed like that. But his relationship with the spirits made me doubt myself. Especially because he was with an air spirit. And Aang's culture revolved around air. If an air spirit trusted Zizaku did that mean that I could trust him too? And if I could what did that say of the Fire Nation?

"No harm will come to your brother or _father_." My dad? What did he know about my dad? "And I can also bring back your mother." If I had any doubts the image of my mom dancing around washed them away.

 _Maddi_

"Aang?"

"Yes Maddi?"

Aang and I have been talking from our respective cells. I don't know how far apart we were but we had to be close to yelling in order to hear each other.

"I think it would be a great time for you to go Avatar State. Wouldn't you say so?"

"I would agree my dear Madds, but it appears I still can't control it. That and I'm hanging upside down." We were a bit grumpy due to being held prisoners so most of our talks were filled with banter. "Did you know this was going to happen, Pala?"

"This is actually a completely new event. This never happened in the legend I knew. Either it actually did happen and it was forgotten which I doubt or the changes I've been making are starting to become huge."

Peaceful silence filled the air for a few minutes. I took the opportunity to take in the weight of the situation. Everything was changing. This proved it. I didn't know if this would affect the future adventures drastically but there wasn't going to be any holding back anymore. If I wanted to avoid this from happening again I'm going to have to be honest to my friends all the time.

A light snore made me chuckle at the realisation that Aang was still a kid and dangerous moments still didn't weigh in on him. That made me want to protect him more.

"Nut, you told me that if I ever needed your help to just call you. Guess what? I need your help now." I looked out of the cell's window that faced the clouded sky waiting for an answer from the spirit. Nothing happened.

"Please, I'm begging you, Nut. Help us. We're trapped in the enemy's land and we don't know what's going to happen to us. We need to get out."

Moonlight shone into the cell as the clouds parted to reveal the moon and its stars.

"Hello, Maddison." Nut appeared in front of me still looking my age. "It's been a while."

I nodded. "A little help here?" With a flick of Nut's wrist the chains binding me in place fell to the ground. In the distance I could hear Aang fall to the floor as he was freed too.

"Thanks Nut, I o…"

"Like I said. Keeping me in my place is a debt not easily repaid. I shall help you with whatever you need for time to come," she assured me before disappearing.

"Pala? How did you do that?" Aang came into my cell looking at my chains and him carrying his own.

"Long story. Tell you about it later. We need to get out before anyone sees us."

"We need to find Katara first." Aang was getting ready to argue but I just nodded in understanding.

We couldn't find Katara. Wherever they kept her it was far from our cells for whatever reason. Eventually the alarms began to ring as our disappearance was finally noted. The once empty halls were about to be filled with busy soldiers looking for us.

"You there!" We ran into two soldiers around a corner. Before they could do anything they fell to the floor as two swords slid out of them revealing a familiar sight behind them.

"Zuko!" We both exclaimed in delight.

He ignored our delight and began to attack us both. That's when I realized there was something wrong with his mask. It was red instead of blue. And his strikes with the sword were different. They seemed like inexperienced slashes instead of coordinated attacks. Whoever this guy was it sure as hell wasn't Zuko.

I had to stay back and avoid the strikes as Aang did his best to defend me and stop him. While he was inexperienced with the sword and that meant a well trained warrior could take him down, it also meant that his attacks would be random and unpredictable. So I wasn't going to take a chance as long as Aang could keep him at a distance with his blasts of air.

"Duck!" Aang and I obeyed the sudden order before a line of fire sent the masked man off his feet. This time it definitely was Zuko who saved us.

I looked at him. He was wearing a fire nation soldier's armour. Complete with a helmet. But his voice was still very recognisable. That and if you looked close enough at one of the eye holes his scar would be visible.

"The original is definitely better than the knockoff this time," Aang commented as he shot a glance at the unconscious man.

"How did you know we were going to be here? And you're not here to capture Aang again right?" I asked Zuko.

"We can talk as we run," Zuko grabbed my hand and made Aang follow. "I heard some rumours that my sister was opening a new factory in the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom. She isn't much of a producer so I knew it was just a cover. I've been scouting the area for a few days now and I saw you and your friends be brought in." We made sudden stop as we heard soldier closing in on us.

"Over here," I dashed into one of the rooms quickly. Once Aang and Zuko were inside I sealed it.

"We're locked in," Zuko protested. I silenced him with a finger and motioned to crouch low.

"They can't escape. If they do all of your heads will be on the line," Azula's irritated voice swayed in. A moment later their steps faded.

"So how are we going to leave now?" Aang asked.

"With our help!" Sokka exclaimed from outside. Appa moaned as he dropped on all fours.

"Sokka!" I yelled in delight.

"And me," Momo's chitter joined Toph.

"Toph. I'm glad you're here. Listen. You can metal bend us out of here you just…"

"Let me stop you right there sister. Metal bending is impossible. It isn't earth at all. Not even the Masters have ever been able to manipulate it," Toph shot.

"You can. Just focus on the bits of earth inside. Metal isn't purified. It's still earthy. You just need to use your seismic sense to find the pieces," I explained.

"If I can interrupt, Azula may very well hear the banging on metal. Bending it would be the only way to escape," Zuko backed me up.

"Is that Zuko? Are you sure he won't blast us to ash anymore?" Sokka asked.

"He's one of us now," Aang defended.

I zoned out their conversation and opted on focusing on Toph. She was grasping the surface of the metal in her hands trying her best pull at it.

"I can't do this!" She punched the metal in frustration making a dent in it and startling everyone. "Whoa! I barely felt that!" She laughed. She grabbed at the metal again and started to pull it apart slowly. There was finally a hole in the wall big enough for us to slip through.

"I'm an Earthbending Master!" She yelled in excitement.

"I think I heard something."

"Oops." Toph accidentally gave us away. Now we wouldn't be able to rescue Katara stealthily like I was planning.

"Toph. You need to teach me that after I Master earth," Aang laughed.

Before the chaos could start we all climbed on Appa deciding on escaping for now and coming back for Katara later. We were climbing up into the sky when we jerked to a stop at level with the roof of the complex. We all looked at what stopped us. Appa was anchored down by water connected to the person we were set on saving.

"You see? We told you they were going to leave you," Azula smirked as she stood next to Katara. Mai, Ty Lee and the mysterious masked person were behind both of them looking up at us. Ty Lee had her innocent smile like always while Mai just glared at us.

"Dear Zuzu, I'm hurt that you betrayed your own family. Your own Nation," Azula pouted. She was crazy.

"I'm not betraying my nation. I'm helping it. I've seen how it is right now and father doesn't care."

"Katara! Why are you doing this?" She ignored her brother's question. I was heartbroken to see her on the opposite side. I wanted to know why she betrayed us.

The masked man leaned into her ear and whispered something. That sent me into a rage. I threw one of my Kyoshi fans clocking him in the face. Despite the situation it created a sort of levity as I couldn't help but laugh as he stumbled backward.

"I'm glad you've had your fun but it's time to turn over the Avatar," Azula narrowed her eyes.

As if on cue Aang's tattoos started to glow as he began to rise up. His face was frozen in anger. The sphere of somewhat visible air around him brought him floating over their heads.

"Aang! Don't!" My warnings were drowned out by the screaming winds. A circular cut of earth rose at his command but it wasn't able to move quickly enough.

In a flash of lightning Aang began to fall from the sky. This wasn't supposed to happen until the end of the season. But my changes in the world didn't care. They didn't care about the ambush so why would they care about the Avatar's life? And now with Katara gone from our group the Avatar cycle would certainly break.

"Nut! Help me now!"

The world froze as I stood on Appa. Nut appeared in front of me. Her form was solid now. It wasn't transparent like all the other times.

"What you are asking could have lethal consequences," she warned. I didn't care. Aang had been electrocuted at full power. His attackers had to pay.

"I know." I looked at her sternly.

"Then so be it." She walked into me.

I watched as my eyes glowed green. I wasn't in my body anymore. Instead I was watching myself from everywhere at once.

I felt as all of the moisture in the air was stolen and condensed into a large ball. Even Katara's water was ripped from her hands freeing Appa. Everyone watched as my body motioned the water down to the ground. It seeped into the rock and made it tremble. The floor began to break apart creating fissures and sink holes. Parts of the building sunk into them while others burst into flames as a result of the movement. Azula and her group scattered trying to find a stable place as a wave of water towered over them.

Sokka maneuvered Appa into getting underneath Aang. He fell into Zuko's hands in the saddle. Katara and the others didn't even attempt to retrieve him. Either they were satisfied with their work and believed him to be dead or they were too worried about their current safety.

Before I returned to my body Nut brought the complex down into rubble making sure that it would never be salvaged. I fell into the saddle right next to Toph exhausted. The possession took a toll on me. Maybe this was what Aang felt after being in the Avatar state.

"Is he breathing?" Toph forced me to check.

"No. He isn't."

"Katara is one of them now. She's our enemy and we'll be facing her in the future," Sokka's voice was cold and rough, almost menacing. His love for his sister had been twisted now.

Just yesterday we watched her and Aang practicing their waterbending while playing with each other. What changed? What did they tell her?

"I think I know someone who can help," Zuko spoke up.

"If he dies. The Avatar cycle will be broken, forever," Nut voiced my thoughts.


	14. Memorial

**A/N: I know that this story would work more as a memorial day special, but seeing as today is veterans day and Iroh would count as one, I saw this as a why not.**

Uncle Iroh bounced gently up and down on his Ostrich-Horse. The animal was leant to him by a kind man that was beaten in a game of Pai-sho. Instead of losing his mind like Iroh's previous opponents, he took his loss kindly and honourable. Even offering him this gift which was a much different possession than what was originally promised to him.

As the former general went about his travels, he enjoyed the nice breeze of the day. Beautiful days like these while plentiful, were very hard to enjoy. Especially when he was with his nephew. Not that he didn't enjoy his time with him. He even missed him dearly right now. But he knew that his nephew really did need some time to rediscover himself on his own. Without his interference. Maybe this way he would even realise his true destiny was to help bring balance to the world.

For now, while he waited for his nephew to close his journey, he would be travelling to the outhouse they agreed upon meeting in again. This required a long journey of which he had completed a week's worth already. But he was getting close, and with the protection of the spirits, he would be getting there in one more day's journey. Right now he had to worry about his animal's health though.

"I bet you are very hungry, are you not, Kin?" he patted the Ostrich-horse's head.

It snuggled itself against the kind man's touch. Kin really seemed to like him. Maybe it was because Iroh really cared for him.

"Do not worry," Iroh chuckled. "We are very close to a village. We can rest up there. And then we can both eat, and maybe even brush up on some Pai-sho while sipping tea," he licked his lips happily while patting the pouch he had tied to his waist.

The two got to their destination right before the sunset. And after they had their fill of feasting and entertainment, they managed to get asylum in a barn that a kind and elderly couple reserved for them.

"You see, Kin? Kind people fill this world. And they do not hide." The animal gave a happy chirp as it snuggled into a mound of hay.

Uncle Iroh looked up at the stars and his eyes grew distant as he recognised the formation of the stars. It was time again. The beauty of the heavenly positions brought tears to his eyes.

"Tomorrow we will have to find a nice place, Kin. I'm sure Prince Zuko will understand why we had to take a detour, to pay our respects," Uncle Iroh shifted his body to a more comfortable position on the hay.

The Ostrich-Horse just snored silently unaware of the troubles his new owner was experiencing. The stormy thoughts of the former general were kept tightly inside his mind. He refused to let them out longer than they were supposed to. He needed his rest right now, and he would have more than enough time tomorrow.

After purchasing some materials Iroh needed for the day, he was on the road once again. This time neither his nephew nor their promise took residence in his head. So instead of travelling in the direction, he was going yesterday, he was headed in the opposite direction. Going somewhere with altitude and beauty. He was informed of the place by the travelling merchant from who he purchased his things.

It was supposedly closer and he could get there before noon.

Because of all the time Iroh had, he decided to take shelter under a small tree with enough shade for him and Kin and took out his Pai-Sho table.

A bush nearby rustled. Iroh looked at it questioningly before dismissing it and returning to his game. Kin, on the other hand, was much more suspicious about the noise and decided to investigate what had caused the noise.

Just as the Ostrich-Horse neared the bush, a metal object pierced its nose sending it in a fit of pain. As Iroh was busy trying to calm his charge, a man was sneaking up on him.

"There there, Kin. What's the problem?" Iroh managed to calm it down. He inspected his friend and found a small knick on its nose where blood was starting to drip down.

And just as he turned around to throw a punch, the man sneaking up on him quickly tied up his hands and feet.

Iroh fell to the ground with a thud as he tangled himself up.

"What?" he looked up to see an unshaven man in loose clothes holding a knife to his face with a shaky hand.

"Please. Don't move. I don't want to hurt you. I just need your things. And once I have them, I promise to untie you," the man promised as he began to hastily go through Uncle Iroh's bag nervously.

"I commend you on your ambush. But your knot tying skills do need some work," Iroh said calmly.

"It was enough to take care of you. And that's everything I basically need."

Before the thief could further search the bag, Iroh was out of the ropes and had the man tied up before he could realise what was happening.

"What? What happened? You were–you were–" the man was on the ground speechless.

"I will release you. If you promise me to join me for a cup of tea," Iroh smiled.

The man was confused at his former victim turned captor's request. He was sure that any normal person would have been furious at what he had just tried to do. But this man was asking him to sit down with him? This did not make any sense.

Iroh repeated his request snapping the man out of his thoughts.

"Y–yes," he nodded.

Iroh untied the man and took out his tea set and started a fire.

"So what made you turn to this way of life? I can see that this is a recent decision of yours. Am I wrong?" Iroh asked as he finished pouring the man a cup of Jasmine tea.

The man shook his head. "No, sir. You aren't wrong. My name is Notuan. I never wanted to do this. But my family…" Iroh helped comfort Notuan as he started crying.

Uncle Iroh spent time helping the stranger with his problems. He ended up giving him possession of his Ostrich-Horse and directions to its former owner in hopes of leading him to a job. He did beat the man in a game and if his reward was returned he could give him a different one. One for the man who tried to mug him. That was the kind of person Iroh was.

Iroh arrived at the highest vantage point of the hill at sunset. His journey had taken longer. But he didn't mind. It was his plan to arrive at sunset. He just ended up helping someone else along the way.

He set up an altar and placed the photo of his deceased son last.

Leaves from the vine

 _Falling so slow_

 _Like fragile tiny shells_

 _Drifting in the foam_

 _Little soldier boy_

 _Come marching home_

 _Brave soldier boy_

 _Comes marching home_

General Iroh cracked up on the last line. His voice had grown hoarse and he finally let all of his emotion come pouring. All of the sadness streamed out of his face.

"May you find your way to your new home my son. You and your platoon. You served our nation well. As terrible as its ruler may be. You laid down your life."

Iroh woke up in the morning. The night was surprisingly warm so he hadn't needed to pull out a blanket from his pack.

Kneeling down, he began a prayer to Lee.

After cleaning up the altar he created, Iroh was back on his journey to the safe house he was supposed to get to. This time he was on foot. It would take longer than originally planned, but he was determined to get there as fast as he could.


	15. Author’s Note 1218

Minor Anouncement.

I'm going to be busy with final exams, SAT, and reviews this month. And I'm also going to be spending time with some family. So I might not be updating at all this month.

But don't worry. This story isn't cancelled it's just on a possible hiatus for a month. Come next year and updates will be assured.

So Merry Christmas to all!!!


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